Saved West Bengal from being greater Bangladesh: Suvendu
Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has claimed that his Government has prevented the State from being a “greater Bangladesh” by thwarting an ‘active plot’ to change the demography of the region.
Iterating that Bengal was not the same as what it used to be even a few months ago, when the Trinamool Congress ruled the State, the Chief Minister said that there was a time when “people had to move the High Court to organise a Durga Puja or an event of Ram Navami.
“But now the people are free to organise their religious programmes” and recite Hanuman Chalisa openly, he said, claiming, earlier “active plots were being made to change the demography of the State... But it has been successfully thwarted.” He said, “the new awakening that has come to Bengal has to be preserved... It is your duty to preserve this new awakening... We all have to protect Bengal from turning into greater Bangladesh,” adding, “no one should be able to divide us in the name of language, caste etc... We must remain united.”
Ever since he came to power, the Adhikari had been following the “detect, delete and deport” formula insofar as transborder illegal immigration was concerned. “You may have noticed how thousands of illegal immigrants queued up every day at the border to return to their country,” he said, reminding how they had been sheltered by the previous Trinamool Congress Government to further its vote bank politics.
Adhikari, who was speaking at a programme to celebrate Janmashtami, had, immediately after coming to power, allotted the requisite amount of land demanded by the Border Security Force to put up barbed fencing. Bengal shares more than 2,000 km of international border with the neighbouring Bangladesh.
In a separate programme, the Chief Minister also disclosed his plans to construct at least two ‘CM Shri’ schools in each of the 23 districts of the State to facilitate modern education. The schools would be modelled after the central schools, he said, adding that existing schools too would be upgraded.
Meritorious students would be admitted to these schools from Class VI through entance tests, he said, adding the schools would resemble Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. Modern facilities like smart classes and top-quality teachers would be appointed in these schools a la Kendriya Vidyalayas, he said.
The Chief Minister also hinted at his Government’s plans to ban mobile phones in the schools. He said that the Government was planning to take “tough decisions.” Like Gujarat. “Look at Gujarat ... Students from class II-XII are not allowed to carry mobile phones,” he said, adding that without these reforms, celebrating Teachers’ Day would have no meaning.
