Rohingya crisis: Commoners shouldn't suffer, says Mamata Banerjee after Centre's submission to SC

Following the Centre’s submission to the Supreme Court that Rohingya Muslims have links with terror outfits such as ISI and ISIS, West Bengal Chief  Minister Mamata Banerjee took a stand contrary to the Centre and said it would be unfair to label all Rohingya Muslims as terrorists.

“Terrorists and commoners are not the same so no one should try to draw a parallel between the two. We maintain that terrorists and terror activities should be dealt with the severest measures prescribed by the law of the land but I would like to reiterate that there is a difference between commoners and terrorists,” Mamata said interacting with mediapersons at Nabanna, the state secretariat. She further said, " There are bad people and good people in every community. Commoners must not suffer because if they do then humanity will suffer. I think that in accordance with the UN verdict we should not compromise our humanity with anything else". 

The West Bengal Chief Minister also  said that the Centre has asked it to deport those, including children, of the Rohingya community who had arrived in the state. "But the Child Commission was not agreeing with the move".

"They (Centre) has asked us to deport the children and others of the Rohingyas who have come here. But Institution of child commission are not agreeing with it," she said. On September 15, she had tweeted her solidarity towards Rohingya Muslims. ‘We do support the @UN appeal to help the Rohingya people. We belive that all commoners are not terrorists. We are really concerned’, her tweet read.

Political experts believe that Mamata Banerjee would continue to take the Centre head-on going by the solidarity she expressed towards Rohingya Muslims, time and again. Many Muslim leaders and organisations had taken out rallies in the city in support of Rohingya Muslims and sources said that they had the support of some of the top TMC leaders as well as Muslim ministers of Mamata’s cabinet. Sources also said that Muslim organisations would soon write to Mamata Banerjee to demand that the Myanmar consulate in Kolkata should not be allowed to function till atrocities on Rohingya Muslims end.

With agency inputs