Kolkata, Jul 27 (IANS): BJP Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey's demand in Parliament for creation of a new union territory combining Malda, Murshidabad, Araria, Kishanganj, Katihar district and the Santhal Parganas region is nothing new, claimed a BJP legislator from West Bengal on Friday, adding that he had raised the issue in August 2022.

BJP legislator from the Murshidabad Assembly constituency, Gouri Sankar Ghosh, said that on August 2, 2022, he had forwarded communique to the offices of the President, Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and West Bengal Governor at a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared that the district of Murshidabad will be divided into three parts and the name of historical “Murshidabad” will be removed.

Ghosh said that his 2022 demand for a Union territory has been justified in the Lok Sabha by Nishikant Dubey.

“At that point in time, I had alerted the Union home ministry about how illegal infiltration was taking place in Malda and Murshidabad, which could threaten the security of the nation. The anti-India forces are encouraging such illegal infiltration from Bangladesh via Malda and Murshidabad. The local administration is acting like mute spectators without taking any initiative to stall this illegal immigration. So at that point in time, I raised the same demand of forming a new Union Territory by segregating parts of Bihar, Malda and Murshidabad,” Ghosh told mediapersons.

He also said that with Nishikant Dubey having raised the same demand now in the Lok Sabha, he is confident that the Union Home Ministry will look into the proposal seriously now.

Incidentally, Ghosh contested as the party candidate from Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency in the recently concluded polls. But he was defeated.

Trinamool Congress leadership have claimed that such demands from the BJP Lok Sabha member and the party legislator are nothing but expressions of their party’s wish to divide West Bengal.