In a video statement issued from Delhi, Majumdar said, “I have met with the Prime Minister and handed over… a presentation highlighting the similarities between North Bengal and the North East. (He) will decide on the proposal in due time”.

Majumdar, a Union minister and MP from Balurghat in North Bengal, further said: “If North Bengal is incorporated in the Northeast, it will benefit from central schemes. There will be more development. I do not think the state government will have objections and that they will cooperate.”

The proposal has kicked up a political storm. TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray called it a “secessionist move on the part of a Union Minister”.

“He has violated the oath of office under the Constitution. North Bengal is an integral part of West Bengal. Even the PM has no power to accept such unconstitutional and illegal demands. This is an evil design of the BJP to bifurcate West Bengal as the party has been suffering humiliating defeats in all elections since 2011,” he said in a statement issued to the media.

TMC spokesperson Riju Dutta called the BJP “anti-Bengal” and “anti-Bengali”.

“Let me be very clear to the descendants of Radcliffe – Bengal has been partitioned before, causing tremendous agony to millions, who lost everything…We will NOT let that happen again… We will FIGHT to the last drop of our blood to protect the sovereignty, integrity & boundary of Bengal! BENGAL WILL NEVER BE DIVIDED AGAIN,” Dutta said in a post on X.

In 2021, the then BJP MP from Alipurduar — also in North Bengal — John Barla, had demanded for North Bengal to become a separate union territory or state.

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