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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has reportedly locked herself up in her office in the state Secretariat in Kolkata, citing the alleged presence of Indian Army trucks outside as the reason. She has further claimed that she would leave her office only once the army is asked to move.
Until and unless the Army stationed in front of Nabanno, the Bengal state govt secretariat, is withdrawn 1/2
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 1, 2016
... I will be staying at my Secretariat to guard our democracy 2/2
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 1, 2016
Mamata had earlier alleged the large presence of army vehicles deployed at toll booths across highways, saying the state government was kept in the dark over this move. “Army has been deployed in the state without informing the state government. This is a very sensitive issue. This is unacceptable. We do not know anything about it. It has never happened,” Banerjee told the media. “We want details. Federal structure has been disrupted and democracy twisted. Has Emergency been declared? We had no information.” A Defence Ministry spokesman said there was “nothing alarming about this” and the exercise is carried out as per government orders. “The army conducts the annual exercise throughout the county with the aim of getting statistical data about the load carriers that could be made available to the army in case of a contingency,” said the spokesman. The three-day exercise, now being conducted within the Eastern Command area, would end on Friday. She iterated that a civil operation cannot be launched by the army without informing the state and claimed it was the result of a “political vendetta”. “What was the magnitude of the incident that the central government didn’t inform the state government? This is a political vendetta,” she said. Continuing her tirade against the Narendra Modi-led central government, she said: “Is it some kind of planning to start a war within the country? The road is ours and is administered under the state’s law and order although it is categorised under the Centre’s National Highway Authority of India.” She claimed public is being harassed and their vehicles are being stopped along the toll collection points. “Even if the Army carried out a mock exercise, the state government should have been kept in the loop. The public is panicking. If this is happening in a civil area in Bengal, this could happen in Bihar, next in Uttar Pradesh, then in Tamil Nadu and other states as well. It is a very serious situation and it is dangerous than Emergency. We are facing an extremely black day,” she said. With inputs from IANS
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