KLO chief tells Mamata not to visit north Bengal: ‘Will overthrow outsider’

“Mamata Banerjee should not come to Koch-Kamatapur. She cannot interfere or oppose the formation of Koch-Kamatapur state. The situation will be horrible if force is applied. I will sacrifice the lives of millions of people. There will be bloodbath,” KLO chief Jiban Singha, who is facing several cases, including those under UAPA, said in a video released on the eve of the CM’s visit.

In the video clip, which has not been verified, Singha, who is currently in hiding, is seen standing with his armed aides.

“Cooch Behar is a C-class state as per the India Accession Treaty. A number of MPs and MLAs from the region like John Barla, Nisith Pramanik and Jayanta Roy (all BJP leaders) have backed our demand. The people of Koch-Kamatapur will form the greater Cooch Behar or Kamatapur state, and will create their own political destiny,” the KLO chief is heard speaking.

The chief minister reached Alipurduar in north Bengal on KLO chief makes statehood demand, warns Mamata from visiting north Bengal on Monday for a three-day visit to the region.

“We don’t need development. A separate state is better than the promise of development. The people of Koch-Kamatapur will develop on their own. I am appealing to everyone that they should not forget about Mamata Banerjee’s false promises of development. I am urging everyone – from Malda to Dinajpur – to join our struggle for the liberation of this land. We will overthrow the outsider government of West Bengal at any cost,” the KLO chief added.

The BJP backed KLO chief’s demand, saying the party was in favour of a separate state. “If he (Singha) called for a separate state, then we have no problem with it. The people of north Bengal have been deprived for years and their demand for a separate statehood is legitimate,” Jayanta Roy, the BJP MP from Jalpaiguri, said.

The ruling TMC hit out at the BJP, calling the KLO chief’s video a “pre-plan conspiracy” of the BJP. “This is a pre-plan conspiracy of the BJP. But the people of Bengal have already rejected them. In Bengal, this will not be successful,” TMC leader Joyprakash Majumder said. Meanwhile, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty criticised the government for “failing” to keep a check on separatist movements in the state. “In the Left Front regime, no separatist force had the courage to threaten a chief minister like this,” Chakraborty said.

The Kamtapur movement was spearheaded by the Koch Rajbongshi community, a Scheduled Caste in West Bengal. The proposed state covers seven of North Bengal’s eight districts including Cooch Behar, where the movement is centred, as well as Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara districts in Assam; Kishanganj in Bihar; and Jhapa in Nepal.

The demand was first raised in 1995 following the formation of the KLO, an armed militant organisation. Its stated aim was to address problems faced by the Koch Rajbongshi people such as unemployment, land alienation, neglect of Kamtapuri language and identity, and economic deprivation.

The movement fizzled out in the early 2000s due to a leadership crisis and the arrest of several operatives of the KLO and the All Kamtapur Students Union (AKSU).