The alleged BSF firing in Cooch Behar on Friday in which three persons died has put under the spotlight the Centre’s decision to increase the border-guarding force’s jurisdiction.

The Union home ministry last month extended the jurisdiction of the BSF from 15km to 50km within Indian territory from the international borders Bengal shares with neighbouring Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The same decision has been taken for Assam and Punjab as well.

The shooting took place on a day Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla held talks in Calcutta with state officials on border issues. Sources present at the meeting, however, said the increased jurisdiction of the BSF could not be taken up at the meeting as the central officials did not want to deviate from the agenda.

The Trinamul Congress demanded that the Narendra Modi government revoke the notification on the BSF’s wider reach.

Udayan Guha, the newly elected Trinamul MLA of Dinhata in Cooch Behar, launched a vitriolic attack on the BSF.

“The central government should immediately restrain the BSF. The BSF keeps claiming that it is vigilant but interestingly, smuggling does not stop at the (India-Bangladesh) border,” he said.
Guha also raised the jurisdiction issue and said it would only add to the people’s woes.
“We are well aware how people living within 15km of the border face inconveniences due to the BSF’s highhandedness. Our chief minister has already objected to the decision and the Centre should revoke the notification immediately,” he said.

A senior Trinamul leader in Malda, another north Bengal district that shares a border with Bangladesh, said most residents of the district were apprehensive about the central notification.

On October 24, chief minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Modi, objecting to the BSF’s increased jurisdiction. She said the force was not equipped to deal with a wide range of law-and-order issues like the police.

For example, in Malda, areas that are now under nine of the district’s 14 police stations will come under the jurisdiction of the BSF if its reach were to be increased to 50km within Indian territory from the international border.

“There are a number of instances of BSF troops conducting raids, assaulting and detaining people, including elected representatives. We fear the situation will only worsen as it is evident that the force hardly uses non-lethal means when it comes to defence, unlike the police,” the Trinamul leader in Malda said.

The CPM, too, has expressed dissent over the Centre’s decision.

Senior leader Sujan Chakraborty, who was in Birbhum on Friday, criticised the increased jurisdiction and asked why the force’s reach had been reduced from 80km to 50km in BJP-ruled Gujarat that shares a border with Pakistan.

“The role of the BSF in Bengal has not been good so far. They are there to manage the border and we don’t think there is any need to extend their operational area,” Chakraborty said.

The Bengal BJP defended the Modi government’s notification and claimed that it had been issued “in the interest of national security”.
“There are some political forces that encourage infiltration and intend to change the demography of the state for their own interests. That is why they are politicising the issue,” said Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP chief.