NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee
on Friday said that her recent statement about violence-hit Bangladesh was “distorted” and that she had “said nothing out of turn” as she is fully aware of the country’s
external affairs policy
. The Bengal chief minister, who is New Delhi for NITI Aayog meeting, said the “ministry of external affairs should learn a few lessons” from the system.
Clarifying that she had only offered help to those who were caught in the situation, like students across borders and those who come into Bengal for medical treatment or on other work, Banerjee said, “My words were distorted by BJP and a certain section of people in Bangladesh.
But we wanted to avoid any trouble, as there were riots at the Assam border, but out police rescued 2000 students from the Bengal borders.”
Banerjee said, “I know the federal structure very well. I was an MP seven times, I was Union minister twice. I know the external affairs policy better than anyone else. They shouldn’t teach me a lesson; they should learn from the system instead.”
Hitting out at the ministry of external affairs (MEA), Banerjee said, “the
MEA
should learn some lessons since they forgot about it when they were working out the Teesta and Ganga water accords unilaterally with Bangladesh, without involving the main stakeholder (Bengal),” bringing up the state’s contentious international water sharing issues with the Centre.
Earlier, CM Mamata Banerjee had said that her government would provide shelter to people from violence-hit Bangladesh and would not turn anyone away “if they come knocking on our doors”.
“I cannot make any comments on the situation in Bangladesh as it is another country and only the Indian govt has the right to speak about it. But if helpless people (from Bangladesh) knock on Bengal’s doors, we will give them shelter. There is a resolution of the United Nations to respect refugees from neighbouring nations. There was once a conflict with the Bodos in Assam. Refugees stayed in Alipurduar for a long time. I also went to meet them,” Mamata said at a rally.
The MEA, during a press conference on Thursday, informed that Bangladesh had formally lodged protest against the
West Bengal CM
‘s statement.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “I can confirm that we have received a diplomatic note, a communication from the Bangladesh side protesting the comments made by the West Bengal CM. It is essentially on the lines described in the reports.”
“I would underline that under the 7th Schedule, List 1 – Union List, Item 10, of our Constitution, the conduct of foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country, are the sole prerogative of the Union Govt,” he added.
