In the wake of political developments in Bangladesh, an alert was sounded along the 4096 km border with India, said a Border Security Force official.
Director General-BSF Daljit Singh Chawdhary rushed to Kolkata on August 5 to take stock of the situation.
The BSF guards the Indian front on the eastern flank of the country that runs along five states.
West Bengal shares a total of 2,217 kilometres of border with Bangladesh, along with Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Assam (262 km) and Mizoram (318 km).
In a sudden turn of events, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has succumbed to the protest and tendered her resignation on August 5, 2024. She has reportedly reached India, where Ms. Hasina and her family were sheltered when the country faced a military coup earlier.Â
However, this time it was not a coup and the protesters stormed the Prime Minister’s official residence in Dhaka after the news of her leaving the country emerged.Â
Students who have been protesting against the government’s proposed quota, under the banner Students Against Discrimination, began their ‘Long March to Dhaka’, despite the Bangladesh government banning the internet totally, in a bid to diffuse the protest.
As many as 300 people were killed since the protest began in July, with at least 94 dead in Sunday’s fierce clashes.Â