Mainly to expand their support base, all these parties, excepting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have helped numerous Bangladeshi immigrants to cross over illegally and later providing them with necessary enabling documents to ensure their stay, over the past decades. Some years ago, a Forward Bloc MLA physically prevented Maharashtra policemen, who were trying to push back 30 illegal Bangladeshi migrants rounded up from greater Mumbai area, to hand them over to the BSF in Bengal. Former CPI(M) State Secretary the late Sailen Dasgupta once admitted during an interview that the State Government (under Left Front) never tried to evict illegal Bangladeshi settlers ,despite receiving official reports.

Following the July 1 incident in Dhaka, where 22 foreign citizens were made prisoners and then killed by young homegrown terrorists owing their allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) , the centre has now asked Bengal and NE states to increase vigil along the international border. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered the state police to curb down on crimes along the international border.

The irony is that the largest segment of unprotected border in the Eastern sector happens to be in West Bengal, where an 800 kilometres long stretch out of a total of 4096 kms remains unfenced and unprotected; The reason: the TMC has not made available land required for fencing to the Border Security Force during its 2011-2016 tenure, despite repeated requests and reminders from the Union Home Ministry.

This has happened with the full knowledge and approval of local TMC leaders and their Chief, Mamata Banerjee. ‘The TMC Government will never dislodge anyone from occupied land, no matter whether the people there are legal or illegal settlers’; she has stated publicly many times. Naturally her present, somewhat changed, stance that the Government will now act against illegal activities along the border including infiltration, has caused many eyebrows to rise. Officials concede that even if the state Government is now more serious to act in concert with the Central forces and agencies to ensure a more secure border, the situation will not improve in the short term.

As a result, the BSF have not been able even to put up watchtowers in many areas. This helps illegal border crossings at night. The situation is even more confusing when it comes to guarding the rivers, for lack of agreement between India and Bangladesh. Local villagers in Nadia, Murshidabad and Malda, mainly Muslims, have objected to BSF operations against cow smuggling, even attacking para military personnel.

Only weeks ago, a violent mob had held up traffic on the national highway for hours, set police vehicles aflame and attacked policemen working in a thana who fled, protesting over an incident. This happened in Malda district. The police did not take action, for the instigators belonged to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party. BSF circles later indicated that they suspected illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh were also in the mob, but this could not be officially confirmed, as state officials at Malda and Kolkata remained tight-lipped.

For lack of progress in the fencing and building of new border roads, with special lights and watchtowers and other related work, Bengal has not been able to make much use of the Centre’s financial assistance provided specifically for such infrastructure development, unlike Assam and other NE States. The centre has sanctioned Rs 123 crore for the state to enable it to carry out such work, in association with the BSF authorities this year.

However, past experience of the state Government’s inexplicable reluctance to secure its borders with Bangladesh suggests that the centre will have to press Bengal very hard to improve security along the border. Earlier the Left Front too, did not co-operate with the centre on such issues, with an eye to protect its Muslim vote bank.

Consultations and better coordination between the centre and the state have become more necessary than ever before in view of the July 1 incident. The existing linkage between banned Bangladeshi JUM cadres and local TMC leaders in some districts of Bengal is also common knowledge, after the Khagragarh bomb explosion in Burdwan.

Bangladesh has appealed to India to ensure that religious extremists operating there belonging to the ISIS, Jamat-e-Islami, the new Ansarul Bahini, Jamat-ul Mujahideen (JUM) or other groups, are not able to cross over.

In view of the official slackness of border security measures in West Bengal districts adjoining Bangladesh, not to mention the presence of a hostile section of the local population that allows smuggling and infiltration, observers wonder how state and central forces will be able to step up vigil effectively. In the process not only Bengal’s security, but that of the entire country is being compromised.

Against this complex backdrop, the Chief Minister’s warnings against Islamic radical activities, cattle smugglers and criminals operating along Indo-Bangladesh border seem to have come too late. She recently instructed state police officials to ensure that such elements are checked as ‘terrorists have no religion’. She repeated her message during a session of the state Assembly as well.

It is too early to say whether she means business this time or is really being more serious about national security. Observers feel that more than words, immediate concrete steps taken at the grassroot level are needed. (IPA Service)