West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, who virtually held the Mamata Banerjee Government accountable for the recent political clashes, on Thursday asked the state to explain how the situation spiralled out of its control.
The former National Security Adviser (NSA) questioned State Industries and Commerce Minister Partha Chatterjee on the issues at the Raj Bhawan in Kolkata, the government sources said. Earlier, Chatterjee, who handed Narayanan an invitation to an upcoming business summit in Haldia, had paid a visit to the governor and apprised him of the brawl between the TMC and the CPM in Bhangar area in South 24 Parganas district.
CPM MLA and party veteran Abdur Rezzak Mollah was allegedly attacked on January 6 by TMC strongman Arabul Islam. Two days later, the TMC, carrying firearms and stones, allegedly assaulted a CPM contingent on the way to taking part in a protest march, and injured several of its party workers and torched a number of vehicles. The ruling party raised a counter-allegations stating that the CPM had perpetrated the attack.
As both the sides resorted to blame game with Didi keeping silence, the State Government took a hard blow on the face when Narayanan nearly indicted the administration for the violence. “This has nothing to do with political culture. Some sort of thuggery is going on here. The last two to three days have been distressing and disturbing. We should not tolerate this kind of violence. The administration holds the responsibility to ensure that law and order has been maintained,” said Narayanan.
The Governor’s chastisement has not gone down well with the TMC leadership, prompting senior leader and State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee to publicly attack Narayanan. “Making such a statement publicly without calling for a report from the government is not right. He was also an IPS officer. He should not have made such a sweeping comment,” said Mukherjee.
