West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that more than 200 people from the State are stranded in Afghanistan.
She said the Centre should take immediate steps to enable these people to return home. “My Chief Secretary is writing to the Ministry of External Affairs... The government should immediately arrange to get the people back to West Bengal,” Ms. Banerjee told journalists at the State Secretariat.
The Chief Minister said most of these people were from Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Terai regions of the State. Describing the crisis in Afghanistan as a big problem, she said, “We must first take care of the safety of Indians”.
Asked whether the BJP government at the Centre should revisit the immigration policy and give citizenship to those seeking asylum in the light of the humanitarian crisis, Ms. Banerjee said it was a sensitive issue and a major policy decision. “The Ministry of External Affairs is monitoring the situation. It is better that I don’t say anything now. Let the government of India react,” she said.
