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

    Kolkata, Jan 4 (PTI) 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 countrymen 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 AMR
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)