West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (Left); Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma (Right).
Credit: PTI Photos
Ranchi: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday slammed his West Bengal and Jharkhand counterparts - Mamata Banerjee and Hemant Soren saying one was "teaching lesson to people of Jharkhand by sealing its borders" while people of Bengal were suffering from floods and the other was maintaining silence as "politics was more important to him".
Himanta, who is also the BJP co-incharge of Jharkhand Assembly elections due later this year, is in the state to participate in BJP's 'Parivartan Rally' which will be flagged off by Union Home Minister Amit Shah from Sahibganj here.
"The people of Bengal are suffering from floods due to the failure of the Bengal government. But I am surprised that Mamata Didi is not venting her anger on her officers, but on the people of Jharkhand. She is teaching a lesson to the people of Jharkhand by sealing the state's border, and the honourable chief minister of Jharkhand (Hemant Soren) is silent," Sarma said in a post on X.
The post mentioned that the BJP government at the Centre has also said that Jharkhand is not at fault for Bengal floods.
"This issue is not related to any political party, it is a matter of honour for the people of Jharkhand. But JMM has maintained silence because for them the duty of politics is greater than the duty of the state. The people of Jharkhand should think whether you should give a chance again to a party which is unable to protect the dignity of its state?" Sarma said.
The development comes at a time when Bengal CM Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state would sever all ties with Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for "unilaterally releasing water" which led to floods in south Bengal districts.
She claimed that "unplanned and unilateral release of an enormously huge volume of water at nearly 5 lakh cusecs from the combined system of Maithon and Panchet dams caused the floods in Bengal.
Meanwhile, truck movement on the inter-state National Highway (NH-2) has been completely paralysed from Thursday evening as the West Bengal government has banned entry of heavy vehicles from the Jharkhand side at Dibudih check post on Jharkhand-Bengal border.
As per Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Madhvi Mishra the Bengal police have stopped vehicles at check posts.