Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has offered refuge to citizens affected by the unrest in Bangladesh.
According to Indian media, Mamata Banerjee made this announcement during her party’s ‘Martyrs’ Day’ rally.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal stated that while Bangladesh is a sovereign country and she should not comment on its internal matters, she would say that if helpless Bangladeshi citizens knock on our doors, we will surely provide them refuge.
On this occasion, the Chief Minister also referred to a United Nations resolution that calls for providing shelter to citizens of another country in crisis as refugees.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee further stated that West Bengal has always helped the helpless people of neighboring regions, citing a recent example of providing refuge to hundreds of people during the ethnic conflict in the neighboring state of Assam.
Earlier, Mamata Banerjee wrote in a social media post that hundreds of students are coming to West Bengal from Bangladesh, and we will do everything possible to help them.
According to India’s Border Security Force, 1,062 students from Bangladesh entered West Bengal within four days, out of which 901 were Indian and the rest were from Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh.
It is noteworthy that India and Bangladesh share a 4,096-kilometer-long border, half of which is with West Bengal. The state of West Bengal and Bangladesh have deep cultural and linguistic ties.