‘I will definitely go to Murshidabad’, said Governor CV Bose on Mamata Banerjee’s appeal not to go to violence-affected areas

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday (17 April 2025) requested Governor CV Anand Bose to postpone his proposed visit to the violence-hit Murshidabad district. She said that the situation is gradually returning to normal and confidence building measures are being taken.

Governor should not visit Murshidabad right now – Mamata

CM Mamata Banerjee said at the state secretariat, “I will request non-locals not to visit Murshidabad right now. I will appeal to the Governor to wait for a few more days as confidence building measures are being taken. The situation is returning to normal.” The Chief Minister said that she herself has decided not to visit the affected areas for the time being so as to avoid the race to prove herself politically big.

‘Situation is not favorable right now’

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said, “I could have gone there, but then others would have said that they would also go, but the situation is not favorable right now. An SIT has been formed to investigate the unrest in Murshidabad. I will visit the district at an appropriate time.” She said, ”The state government will rebuild the houses of the victims. The administration is trying to restore the confidence of the people of Murshidabad. I will request the Governor not to visit the riot-affected district right now.”

Will definitely visit Murshidabad – Governor

Governor Bose, however, said that he wanted to visit the district to assess the ground situation. The Governor said after meeting some victims of the Murshidabad violence in Kolkata, “I will definitely visit Murshidabad. I will go to the area myself to see the ground situation. I will look at the matter objectively. The situation has been brought under control. We should take more steps to prevent such incidents in future. The people of the area have demanded a BSF camp there.”

Meanwhile, CM Banerjee criticized the Center for expanding the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) in the border areas and said that this move has weakened coordination between central and state agencies. She said, “Earlier, the area up to 15 km from the border was under the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF). Now the Union Home Minister has increased it to 50 km.” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “Earlier we had information available about people coming to the state from other countries and the purpose of their visit. Now, the Home Ministry under the current Union Home Minister does not share such data or even allow our police to collect it.” CM spoke on the involvement of elements from across the border in the violence When asked about reports of the involvement of elements from across the border in the violence, she questioned, “BSF monitors the border, CISF the land port. Why are we being dragged into this?” The Trinamool Congress supremo appealed to the people to maintain peace and said that some political elements are trying to take advantage of the situation ahead of next year’s elections. She said, “Some criminals are used to incite riots. Nowadays, a lot can be done with money. At such a time, some leaders want to take advantage of this situation. I want my country and state to remain peaceful. There is no need for rallies or meetings right now.”

‘Conspiracies happen when elections come near’

CM Mamata Banerjee said that such sinister conspiracies always happen when elections come near. She alleged, “When elections come near, this kind of game starts a year in advance. The atmosphere is spoiled using agencies. I have exposed the name of the person responsible for this just yesterday. I care about the people, not anyone else.”

The West Bengal CM termed many reports from Murshidabad as fake and alleged that the BJP is using its IT cell to spread misinformation. She claimed, “The BJP has many agencies working with their money. We also have an IT cell, but it is very weak. It does not have that much power. BJP’s IT cell is obsessed with West Bengal, 99 per cent of the news they spread is fake.”