KLO chief calls CM Mamata an ‘outsider’, faces sedition charges

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Special Task Force on Saturday lodged an FIR, with UAPA and other sedition charges, against Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) chief Jiban Singha, alias Tamir Das, for referring to state and central governments as “foreign” while iterating his demand for separate statehood, and openly calling CM Mamata Banerjee an “outsider”, reports Dwaipayan Ghosh.
The claims were made in a video, now available on social media, in which the fugitive separatist leader backs Union minister of state John Barla’s statement on separate statehood for north Bengal. The FIR says the purported video was released last week. The STF said it was trying to ascertain the source of the video.
Though Singha is known to have threatened local north Bengal TMC leaders in the past, this is the first time he has spoken out against CM Banerjee directly. Among those who received threats from Singha are Cooch Behar TMC president Parthapratim Roy and former forest minister Binoy Krishna Burman.
Singha was arrested in 1999 but released soon after by Assam police to force his KLO cadre to surrender. He has been a fugitive ever since.
(With inputs from Tamaghna Banerjee)