It is ‘demonocracy’ in Bengal

Interview/ Jagdeep Dhankhar, governor, West Bengal

78-Jagdeep-dhankhar Jagdeep Dhankhar | Salil Bera

Shortly after the assembly election results were out on May 2, violence erupted in many parts of West Bengal. Many people were killed and hundreds displaced, and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar sought a report from the director-general of police and the chief secretary. Neither officer obliged: the government had asked them “not to share the report”. Dhankhar then took a tour of the trouble-spots on a BSF helicopter and met the victims, ignoring an incensed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's letter asking him not to break the protocol.

In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Dhankhar blamed Banerjee for the violence and made startling accusations that women were raped. Excerpts:

I do not wish to go down as one who did not take the requisite Constitutional steps while West Bengal was [set] on fire by state-sponsored vandalism.

Q/ You visited violence-ridden places. Shouldn't the officials and ministers have done that?

A/ The unprecedented post-poll retributive violence in West Bengal poses the greatest ever threat to democracy and the rule of law. There is no semblance of constitutional norms. Targeted killings, violence and vandalism have been unleashed in savage ferocity by the ruling party and it was backed by the state apparatus. How can you expect them to visit these places?

Q/ What is the situation on the ground?

A/ I never ever imagined that the situation would nosedive to such alarmingly low levels where people would tell the constitutional head, ‘We will change the religion’ and ‘Help us to live’. The Preamble of the Constitution has been torn asunder.

Q/ But why would the ruling party unleash violence?

A/ This is to teach a lesson and instil a mortal sense of fear in those who ‘dared’ to vote as per their volition and against the ruling party. Nothing can be more shameful in a democracy that people have to pay with life for voting with freedom. The enormity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that post-May 2, lakhs of people have fled from their homes fearing for their lives. Women and girls have suffered indescribable indignities including rape.

Q/ That is a serious accusation.

A/ Yes. There has been extensive torching of houses, arson, loot, destruction of all means of livelihood to weaken people’s morale and faith in the rule of law and in democracy.

Q/ But the chief minister said the violence was contained once she took over.

A/ Unfortunately, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has turned a Nelson’s eye to the horrendous woes of suffering people and trampling of democratic values. In the face of such a ghastly scenario, the governor cannot sit in the Raj Bhawan unmindful of his oath under Article 159 to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and serve the people of the state.

Q/ She has accused you of interfering.

A/ The stance of Banerjee on the role of the governor lacks elementary knowledge of the Constitution. The supremacy of the Constitution cannot be sacrificed. I wonder how an administrative order (regarding no report to the governor and then objecting to his tour) that has no legislative or Constitutional sanction can ever be above the Constitution.

Q/ The Trinamool Congress says it has the mandate to rule for five years and the Centre acting within 24 hours of the chief minister taking the oath is not justifiable.

A/ The mandate requires conforming to the Constitutional norms. It was unfortunate that Banerjee, during electioneering, set ignoble standards that in any civil society would be reckoned as culpable. She, while being under the oath of the Constitution, had the audacity to indicate that the Central forces would not be here forever and, once they were gone, people would be made to suffer. She incited her partymen, and women, in particular, to take on the Central forces with all kinds of household items. Such conduct is unbecoming of a person holding a Constitutional position.

Q/ So you hold the chief minister responsible for the violence.

A/ The chief minister’s stand that the Sitalkuchi incident (where four people died in police firing and a man was gunned down by miscreants) was genocide and cold-blooded murder must be seen in the context of her silence in the wake of a number of murders, rapes, arson, loot and horrendous acts of vandalism and violence after the polls. Everyone has to be subject to the rule of law and no mandate gives impunity for it.

Q/ You were accompanied by MPs and MLAs of one party. The Trinamool says the governor should have taken MPs and MLAs from other parties also.

A/ I do not look at the political affiliation of public representatives. They represent the entire area. The chief minister is for the state and not just for her party.

Q/ What have been your findings?

A/ The governance in the state is far distanced from Constitutional norms and the rule of law. The chief minister has failed to discharge her duties to the governor as indicated in Article 167 of the Constitution. Governance is like that of a state within a state with all trappings of a police state.

Q/ Did the victims tell you that the state administration did not come to their rescue?

A/ I witnessed in Cooch Behar, the Ranpagli camp in Assam and in Nandigram some scenes that will haunt me forever. The tales were heart-rending. How can such vandalism be allowed? Those in the silent mode are destroying democracy.

Q/ No case of rape has been lodged in any police station.

A/ Wherever I have been to, people have narrated their heart-rending woes. The silence of the chief minister would haunt her for years to come, as by her stance she has become party to the destruction of democratic values and the rule of law. Several places I visited left me with no doubt that the marauders acted heartlessly to destroy.

Ground report: Jagdeep Dhankhar (white mask) has been visiting violence-affected areas in the state, including Cooch Behar | PTI Ground report: Jagdeep Dhankhar (white mask) has been visiting violence-affected areas in the state, including Cooch Behar | PTI

Q/ What you say would have serious repercussions.

A/ I do not wish to inflame passions by indicating all that I saw, heard and noticed. I am giving you the pathetic story I saw. To save themselves from further agony, all these people had raised on their houses the flags of the ruling party. They told me that even these flags could not save them from retribution of the worst kind.

Q/ Television channels showed people falling at your feet and pleading. You mentioned they told you they would change their religion to save their lives.

A/ I never imagined that I would ever face such a moment in life, that people would plead with me that they were prepared to change their religion to save their lives. I saw the entire Preamble of the Constitution collapsing before my eyes. It is my bounden Constitutional duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and serve the people of the state. I do not wish to go down as one who did not take the requisite Constitutional steps while West Bengal was [set] on fire by state-sponsored vandalism.

Q/ But why did not they go to a police station?

A/ It is an open secret. Go to the police station and then face unbearable pain. It makes the accused out of the victim, and this is followed by punishing by the ruling party.

Q/ Hundreds of people were displaced because of the violence. How can they be brought back to their homes? How can the offenders be punished?

A/ Lakhs of people have been displaced. Some have even taken refuge outside the state. The government is on the path of teaching them a lesson of life so that they never ever dare vote against the ruling party, let alone punishing the offenders.

Q/ Is this violence just political?

A/ The entire premise of unleashing the unprecedented post-poll violence was to inflict unbearable atrocities on those who decided to vote as per their choice and against the ruling party. No democracy can blossom or flourish until this quintessential freedom is there. That the opposition has no space at all in democracy is indicative of authoritarianism and despotism. It can no longer be called a democracy. It is ‘demonocracy’. If people have to part with their lives, women have to pay with being raped, society has to pay with arson, loot, vandalism and extortion for exercising their right to vote, then we are seeing the end of democracy.

Q/ Will you send a report to the president?

A/ I can only say, we are in a state of anarchy and lawlessness.

Q/ What about the role of the police?

A/ West Bengal has highly politicised police and administration. They are more than political workers of the ruling party. People are in mortal fear of the police, and the police are in total captivity of the ruling party. Victims walking for justice to the police station come out as accused, only to face the unbearable reprisals at the hands of the ruling party goons.

Q/ What action would you take to stem the rot?

A/ All steps will be taken to ensure people’s faith in democracy and confidence in the Constitution so that it is not shaken. Enough is enough.

Q/ The ruling party said that the governor's actions were going to affect the Centre-state relations.

A/ The governance here is like that of a state within a state. It has been perennially at loggerheads with the Centre and all national institutions without rhyme or reason and to the detriment of the people.

Q/ The prime minister called you after the violence broke out. What did he say?

A/ Understandably, he is deeply concerned by the enormity of the post-poll violence and the indescribable suffering of the people. Obviously, his priority was to help restore normalcy and contain the menacing situation, to engage in rehabilitation and compensation, and to generate confidence-building measures. I took all initiatives by engaging with Banerjee on numerous occasions. There was no tangible step taken by her.