Row over guv’s meeting with ministers in Delhi
KOLKATA: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar met Arun Kumar Mishra, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) during his trip to Delhi on Wednesday, triggering a political row in Kolkata with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) demanding his immediate removal and the CPI (Marxist) or CPI(M), alleged that Dhankhar is acting like a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member.
“Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar had a courtesy meeting in New Delhi with former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Arun Kumar Mishra, Chairperson National Human Rights Commission @India_NHRC,” Dhankhar tweeted after meeting Mishra.
This immediately triggered a controversy in Bengal as Dhankhar, before his departure for Delhi, wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, alleging that the state is witnessing post-poll violence and violation of human rights and never witnessed since Independence. He accused the government of inaction.
“Never before has a governor met an NHRC chairman. He is partisan, uncivilized and should be removed immediately. Dhankhar is acting beyond his Constitutional limits,” said TMC Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy. TMC supporters started a hashtag campaign, #DhankharAbBandhkar (Dhankhar stop it now).
Veteran CPI(M) leader and Bengal Left Front chairman Biman Bose said, “We saw Dhankhar visiting violence affected areas with BJP leaders. As governor he is free to go anywhere but why is he accompanied by BJP leaders all the time? His actions are akin to that of a BJP member. He is not following the Constitution of India.” This was the first time that the Left has spoken out so sharply against Dhankhar.
Going a step forward, the national executive committee of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has accused Dhankhar of attempting to create unrest in Bengal. “After taking over as the governor he started behaving like a BJP representative, ignoring all moral and government protocols supposed to be followed by a constitutional authority. His role before the election, during the election and after the election remains the same. He is disrespecting the poll verdict and is aiming at creating instability and unrest in West Bengal. Such behaviour from a constitutional head of a state is unacceptable,” the committee said in a statement.
Defending the governor, Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samiik Bhattacharya said, “We have lost 28 supporters in postpoll violence. The governor has repeatedly sought action. If his actions are being described as unprecedented then the violence, too, is unprecedented.”