Even as the Border Security Force( BSF) has refuted allegations of training “Narayani Sena’ - a organisation raised by a group demanding separate State out of West Bengal Cooch Behar district - the border guarding forces admitted that it, “only guided school going boys and girls in correct way of doing Savdhan, Bishram and Salute only for 15 to 20 minutes”.
A statement issued by Guwahati Frontier of the BSF said that guards the border in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar border with Bangladesh said reports claiming that the border guard forces were providing training to Narayani Sena is “highly exaggerated and far from ground reality”.
West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) however, stepped up its attack against the BSF describing it the developments as “a deep-rooted conspiracy against the State government”. From its official twitter handle of the party, a quotes attributed to party leaders criticised BSF.
“It is a deep-rooted conspiracy against the state government. How come BSF is giving training to Narayani Sena and other elements who are involved in smuggling?” senior TMC leader and state parliamentary affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.
Leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay accused the Centre of interfering in the law and order of the State. He accused the BJP of trying to disturb the peace in Bengal. Narayani Sena owes its name to the first Koch King Nara Narayan who ruled in the early 16 th century, said Bhaskar Nandy, septuagenarian leader of CPI (M-L).
Mr Nandy who is an authority on the Koch history, said that Narayani Sena is associated with Greater Cooch Behar People Association (GCPA) which demands a separate State of Cooch Behar for Rajbanshi population.
The demand for Greater Cooch Behar has been since the 1950’s when the Kindgom of Koch Kings became a part of West Bengal. Earlier in February this year, a faction of GCPA led by Banghsi Badan Baraman disrupted Railway Services near New Cooch Behar station for over two days.
Experts like Mr Nandy also see politics behind the development. According to him the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) has “ tacit understanding with Ananta Roy who leads a faction of GCPA” and that has not gone well with the ruling TMC.
