West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for taking a dig at him after his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday, when he spoke about “lawlessness” in the state.
At her virtual rally on Tuesday, Mamata had said, “If you talk about lawlessness in Bengal, then go to UP and see what is happening there. Encounter after encounter and that has been the order of the day.”
In an exclusive interaction with THE WEEK, Dhankhar on Wednesday said, “This is an avoidable new low in public life. A beleaguered leader due to horrendous blunder and monumental mistakes looking for an alibi.”
Dhankhar’s decision to rush to Delhi, via Lucknow, appears to have yielded gain. Amit Shah called seven senior leaders of the BJP, including state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, and election in-charge Mukul Roy to Delhi. The meeting gains huge significance. Sources said Shah would listen to the observation of the Bengal party unit regarding the deaths of many BJP leaders in Bengal. The latest was its MLA, Debendra Nath Ray, from Uttar Dinajpur, whose death the BJP has termed as a “political murder”. It is expected that the home minister could write to the state government wanting clarifications, a move that could discomfit the Mamata Banerjee government.
Mamata had said on Tuesday that she would go to any end to find the reason behind the death of the BJP MLA. “I am feeling so bad that an MLA had to die like this. Perhaps he felt so bad. I have asked the police to do an investigation and I would go down to know the reason till the end,” Mamata said.
Dhankhar, however, said it was time for soul-searching on the part of Mamata.
“Those working in terms of Constitution neither wear kid gloves nor have feet of clay… [This is] most unfortunate and not in sync with the office you hold,” Dhankhar said.
Dhankhar also took a dig at the chief minister and said he would remain what he used to be.
“[Your stand] can’t be impactful at my end. Your repeated stance[s] releases the cat from the bag that there is even remote control of the vice-chancellors,” Dhankhar told THE WEEK.
The governor’s reaction came after the state government did not allow a videoconference of VCs with him.
The governor expressed optimism that Mamata would fall in line.
“Hope primacy is given to public good and people’s welfare and we work in togetherness for their welfare in tough times,” he said.
Dhankhar is in the process of issuing show-cause notices to all the 22 vice-chancellors of the state who missed the videoconference with him.
