Kolkata, June 14 (IANS) The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday, accused the Mamata Banerjee-led and Trinamool Congress-ruled state government of deliberately destroying a tea garden in north Bengal that had been providing livelihood to the local people coming from a tribal background.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the BJP leader also claimed that the instance of the destruction of the tea garden was a classic example of the “anti-Tribal” stance of the state government and the ruling dispensation.

Along with his statement, Adhikari also attached a video where a JCB could be spotted uprooting the plantation on the land of the tea garden, which he claimed was located at Rasikbil, Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district. In the video, a couple of policemen were also spotted supervising the JCB operations in uprooting the tea plantation.

“The Mamata Banerjee Govt has once again displayed its anti-tribal face. Just a day ago, a Tea Garden in Rasikbil, Tufanganj, which is the sole livelihood of our Tribal brothers and sisters, was ruthlessly destroyed using a JCB. This is a direct attack on the survival of the tribal community in North Bengal because they are not the vote bank of the Trinamool Congress,” the Leader of the Opposition said in the statement, which he posted on X and attached the related video as well.

Adhikari also claimed that the Chief Whip of the BJP’s legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly, Shankar Ghosh, raised the matter on the floor of the House on the fifth day of the monsoon session on Friday.

“We will not tolerate this injustice against our tribal community. I assure my tribal brothers and sisters of the area that if this destruction doesn’t stop, we will take along the tea plantation workers and people of the region and organise a massive movement against this oppressive administration,” his statement read.

At the time the report was filed, there was no reaction from either the state government or the ruling Trinamool Congress on the matter.

–IANS

src/uk