NEW DELHI, Jul 21 : Hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered shelter to people in distress from Bangladesh, sources in the Central government said a state administration has no locus standi on the issue.
These matters are handled by the Union government and the comments are “totally misplaced”, the sources said.
In an address at a public event in Kolkata, Banerjee, referring to violence-hit Bangladesh, said she would keep the doors of West Bengal open for people in distress from the neighbouring country and offer them shelter.
“These are matters which are handled by the Union government,” said a source in the Central government.
“A state government has no locus standi on the issue and as such their comments are totally misplaced,” the source said.
In her remarks, Banerjee also referred to the UN Resolution on refugees as justification for her stand over the possible humanitarian crisis that may emerge on account of the severe law and order breakdown that has gripped Bangladesh in the past few days.
“I should not be speaking on the affairs of Bangladesh since that is a sovereign nation and whatever needs to be said on the issue is a subject matter of the Centre,” Banerjee said.
“But I can tell you this, if helpless people come knocking on the doors of Bengal, we will surely provide them shelter,” she said at the ‘Martyrs Day’ rally of the Trinamool Congress.
Bangladesh has been reeling under deadly clashes with protesting students demanding the Sheikh Hasina-led government to scrap a controversial job quota system.
Over 100 people were killed in the clashes that began weeks ago, according to reports from Dhaka though the exact number of deaths is not yet clear.
Law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh have imposed a nationwide curfew as the clashes between protesters demanding withdrawal of a job quota system and police continued across the country. (PTI)
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