Mamata only concerned about Bengali-speaking Muslims, claims Assam CM Himanta
Guwahati (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has alleged that his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee is only concerned about Bengali-speaking Muslims.
He cautioned that if she comes to Assam for the sake of Muslim-Bengalis, Assamese and Hindu-Bengalis will "not spare her".
“The question is whether Mamata Banerjee likes Bengalis or only Muslim-Bengalis. My answer is only Muslim-Bengalis,” Sarma said on Thursday, on the Trinamool Congress chief’s recent accusation against the BJP of weaponising linguistic identity to achieve political goals.
“If she comes to Assam for the Muslim-Bengalis, the Assamese people and Hindu-Bengalis will not spare her,” he asserted.
Sarma questioned if Banerjee is interested in the protection of the Bengali-speaking people, why has she "not implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, in her state?"
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 paves the way for granting Indian nationality to undocumented non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan -- who came to India before December 31, 2014.
Sarma maintained that Bengali-speaking Hindus have assimilated into the greater Assamese society and their language, culture, religion and all aspects are protected here.
“Mamata Banerjee should realise that in Assam, Bengali-Hindus are not only protected, they have been assimilated into the greater Assamese landscape. They have their ministers, MLAs,” the chief minister said.
He said the Bengali-Hindus speak in their language, practise their religion and all aspects of their culture here, adding that Bengali is an "associate official language in the state and the official language in Barak valley".
“There is no division between Bengalis and Assamese here,” the chief minister added.
Banerjee has been accusing the Centre and the BJP-ruled states of systematically targeting Bengali-speaking migrants by branding them as "illegal Bangladeshi" or 'Rohingya'.
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Meghalaya: Interstate ATM theft racket busted, 6 arrested
Shillong (PTI): An interstate racket involved in ATM thefts across several states has been busted, with the arrest of six persons in connection with a break-in at an electronic banking outlet in Meghalaya's Ri-Bhoi district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused were allegedly involved in breaking into an ATM of the Meghalaya Cooperative Apex Bank on April 5, 2024, they said.
Three of the accused were arrested from Barpeta in Assam, while the remaining were apprehended from Haryana, police said.
Ri-Bhoi SP Giri Prasad M said a special police team was constituted to investigate the case.
"With coordinated efforts and assistance from Assam and Haryana Police, we were able to apprehend the accused involved in the ATM break-in," he told PTI.
The case was registered at Umiam police station under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
According to police, the gang used gas cutters to break open the ATM safe and fled with the cash within minutes.
"The group is part of a larger network involved in similar ATM thefts across different states. Further investigation is underway to dismantle the entire network," the SP added.
