Mishra for 'understanding' reasons for state, UT demand

SNS, SILIGURI, 12 JULY 21: At a time when the demand for a separate state or Union Territory (UT) for north Bengal has rocked the political circles, the CPI-M has said it was in favour of taking views of larger sections of the people and understanding the root causes of the demand.

The ruling Trinamul Congress has vehemently opposed the demand.

CPI-M state secretary Surjyakanta Mishra, who is holding party meetings in north Bengal after the Assembly election debacle, said they were trying to "understand" the demand by taking in views from the people .

"Democratic demands of the downtrodden people cannot be ignored. There are demands like development of language and culture, and we are trying to understand those issues. There is no question of imposing a one-sided abrupt decision, but we need to understand those issues through a review. Those who are associated with the movements, those who support them, we need to understand what their mind says and find out an alternative. We have made our stand clear on the Hills issue too," Mr Mishra said today in Siliguri, where he held three party meetings.

Sources said that Mr Mishra had the central BJP leadership responsible for the demand for bifurcation of the state.

Meanwhile, he said that the Trinamul Congress had put on hold several civic body elections.

Later, Mr Mishra attended a condolence meeting for CPI-M leader and one of the prominent faces of the peasants' movement, Anil Saha, in Siliguri.

It may be mentioned here that Alipurduar's BJP MP John Barla, who has now been made the union minister of state for tribal affairs, had raised the demand for a separate state of UT for north Bengal recently Other BJP MPs and MLAs in the region joined the chorus, while similar demands started being raised elsewhere in the state too.

It may be mentioned here that the Darjeeling district committee of the party had recently said that it never supported any division of the state. Party leaders in Darjeeling district have said that such demands for a separate state or UT might encourage secessionist movements.