Bengal Guv-Mamata govt face-off yet again

September 29, 2020 00:34

Opening up a fresh round of battle with the Mamata Banerjee government, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said it has turned West Bengal into a 'police state' and threatened to "look into" Article 154 of the Constitution alleging that his office has been ignored for long by the ruling dispensation.

Article 154 of the Constitution mandates that the executive power of the state shall be vested in the Governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers subordinates to him.

The Trinamool Congress was quick to hit back accusing the governor of "tarnishing his post" and said that he should "take up the post of the state BJP president instead".

Dhankhar slammed the state government for turning down a Raj Bhavan request to increase the budget allocation for it -- an additional Rs 53.5 lakh to meet its everyday expenses.

The governor said he wouldn't allow Raj Bhavan to be compromised and the behaviour of the state government "is unacceptable".

Contending that the TMC government has turned West Bengal into a "police state", Dhankhar said "A police state is the first enemy of democracy. Police state and democracy don't go hand in hand. Police personnel are working as cadres of the ruling TMC."

He also claimed that the police in Bengal are "in servitude of extra-constitutional authorities" and criticised Director General of Police, Virendra for being irresponsible and callous" in his response to a letter from Raj Bhavan.

"If the Constitution is not protected, I have to act. The office of the governor has been ignored for long. I will be forced to look into Article 154 of the Constitution," he said at a press meet.

Keeping up his attack, Dhankhar said that the "electronic surveillance by the TMC government" has forced him to communicate over WhatsApp voice calls.

"Law and order has collapsed completely in the state. Maoist insurgency is raising its head. Terror modules are also operating from this state," the governor, who has been at loggerheads with the TMC government since he assumed office in July 2019, insisted.

The latest flashpoint between the state government and Dhankhar was a letter he had written to DGP Virendra earlier this month expressing concern over the law and order situation in the state.

Following the DGP's one-line reply saying "The police adhere to the path laid down by the law", Dhankhar had asked the state police chief to meet him by September 26.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a letter to the governor on September 26 expressed anguish over his letter to the DGP and urged him to "act within the mandate of the Constitution".

Reminding Banerjee that he was a "stakeholder in matters of governance", Dhankhar said the CM is under the misconception that the post of Governor is a mere "post-office or a rubber stamp". -- PTI

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