Mamata slams Centre over 'interference' into state matters

In her Facebook post, Banerjee said: "I am in politics since my childhood days, and my public life spans over more than 26 years.I feel like sharing with my facebook friends that ever since the new Government has come to power at the Centre, there is an increasing trend of interference by the Central Government in the state matters."

"The beauty of federal structure is the jurisdiction of working between the Centre and the State and some by both. Primarily, the role of the Central Government is to deal matters concerning major policies/decision making issues. It is expected that Centre and the States do not encroach upon the areas of activities of others.Now-a-days, the Central Government tends to frequently and unnecessarily interfere in state matters what is not at all expected as per our Constitution," she said.

Banerjee said: "Even certain controversial matters are coming up in electronic media like Doordarshan and private channels are being persuaded, resulting in fomenting communal tension in different states. This is being done with active support of the Central Government, which is acting like a political party. This practice is unprecedented, undemocratic and unethical. This marks a dangerous signal of violation of the Constitutional norms, jeopardizing the federal structure and democratic fibre of our country."

She urged people to unitedly fight against 'communal forces'.

"Let us work together to protect our federal structure as per our Constitution," Banerjee said.

Banerjee made the remarks at a time when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) in the bomb blast case in Burdwan in West Bengal,.

Meanwhile, a senior CID official told IBNS that the process of handing over the probe to NIA is on. He also said that the two arrests made from phone booths selling SIM cards without proper documentation are not specifically related to Burdwan blasts.

The decision for an NIA probe was taken by the Home Ministry in view of international ramifications of the case as the incident is now being linked to terrorist groups from across the border having connections with al-Qaeda, LeT and HUJI.

The Centre initiated a suo-motu probe in regard to the Burdwan blast.

A copy of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order was also sent to the West Bengal government clearly stating that NIA had taken up the matter to probe suo-motu.

The Burdwan blast incident had taken place at Khagragarh area in Burdwan district as the explosion in a house led to the discovery of a cache of arms and ammunition. Two people, identified as Shakil Ahmed and Swapan Mondal, died in the blast.