In an apparent reference to scrapping of Article 370 by the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asserted that if a decision was taken in respect of any particular state, people of that state should be taken into confidence. She expressed her concerns on the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and the arrest of former Chief Ministers of the former state.

Banerjee was speaking at the event to commemorate the first death anniversary of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi in Chennai.

“We are really concerned. Sometimes, political party can take a decision, but if they take a decision for Tamil Nadu, they have to take people of Tamil Nadu in confidence. Similarly, if they take a decision for West Bengal, they have to take people of West Bengal in confidence,” news agency ANI quoted Banerjee as saying.

Asserting a strong state identity, the Trinamool Congress chief said, “We are ready to sacrifice our lives but we cannot sacrifice our Tamil land, we cannot sacrifice our Bengal land, we cannot sacrifice our country.”

Her statement came in the backdrop of the Centre’s move to revoke special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh. The TMC had on Tuesday said that it will strongly oppose the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill.

She claimed that the whereabouts of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was not known and expressed concern over it. She also said that in a video clip, the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister was seen weeping. “We do not know his whereabouts, we are really concerned,” she said and added that as per the original agenda for the event here, Abdullah was scheduled to take part,” she said.

Abdullah had on Tuesday contested Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion in Parliament that he was neither under detention nor arrest and was at his home out of his own will.