Withdraw Army or we take legal route, says Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday evening left for home after camping at Nabanna for over 24 hours as a protest against the deployment of Army at various toll plazas, including one at Vidyasagar Setu, which is located less than 500m from the state secretariat.

“If the Army is not withdrawn, then we will take legal action. This (movement against demonetisation) is a people’s fight and it cannot be stopped through intimidation and conspiracies,” she said before leaving Nabanna.

According to Ms Banerjee, if the Army is responsible for protecting the border and the country, the state administration maintains law and order in the state. “I have been an MP for 23 years, but the manner in which the Army has been deployed in the state is nothing but political vendetta. The Army can come only if the state government sends requests during times of some disaster,” she said, adding that some Central ministers issued misleading statements when the matter was raised in Parliament on Friday.

She said the Army had sought permission to carry out some exercise only at one toll plaza, near Nabanna, which was denied by the state police.

“This is happening only in Bengal because I have launched a movement against the scrapping of notes,” Ms Banerjee said.

She sought to know what would the Centre do “if we also sent (to Delhi) 10 vehicles full of police officers tomorrow”. The CM had camped at Nabanna since Thursday afternoon.