If Union minister is outsider, who is insider in Bengal, wonders Anurag Thakur

Kolkata, January 4

Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur on Monday slammed the TMC over its outsider-insider debate, saying that if a Union minister is termed as an outsider in West Bengal, then people from which place are considered as insiders.

Maintaining that West Bengal is an important part of the country, Thakur wondered whether it is a crime for a Union minister to visit the state.

"If a minister of the Indian government coming to West Bengal is termed as an outsider, then I want to ask that people from which place are considered as insiders," he told reporters at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here.

Thakur, who has come to visit ailing BCCI president and former India captain Sourav Ganguly at a city hospital, said that West Bengal has given stalwarts in various fields to the country, while people from all parts of India have settled in the state and participated in its advancement.

He questioned the thought process that leads to such labelling of fellow country and asked whether it should be allowed to flourish or checked.

 The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has alleged that the BJP is bringing in "outsiders" to fight the state assembly elections due in April-May. PTI