KOLKATA: In yet another round of face-off between Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and West Bengal government, the constitutional head of the state on Sunday accused Mamata Banerjee’s administration of hiding information related to political violence, cyclone Amphan corruption and outcome of Bengal’s global business summit.
While the ruling Trinamool termed Dhankhar as the face of the BJP in the state asking him to stay within his Constitutional boundaries, the CPM said the Governor’s queries echoed the issues that their party had raised in the Assembly on several occasions.
In his three consecutive tweets, Dhankhar raised questions on the rule of law in Bengal and said opacity would breed scams.
"Right & Duty of Governor to seek information @MamataOfficial - be Political Violence, Bengal Global Business Summit, PDS, Amphan Relief Corruption etc information is not made available Ruling Party stand ‘GOVERNOR POLITICALLY MOTIVATED” Is this RULE OF LAW or DEMOCRACY!’’ Dhankhar tweeted.
Slamming the Bengal government for not providing information, Dhankhar wrote on his Twitter handle, "Why information is not provided? What is there to hide? Government must clarify. For sake of accountability and transparency, responsibility be fixed on those @MamataOfficial who defaulted in giving information. Opacity would breed scams and add skeletons to cupboards".
Highlighting the state of Right to Information (RTI), the Governor further tweeted, "Failure @MamataOfficial to give information to Governor reveals worrisome state of RTI. I had earlier cautioned Chief Information Officer at low RTI applicants- for fear of police knock and repression if they seek information. Sharing information is a deterrent to corruption".
Reacting to Dhankhar’s allegations, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said the Governor should know his limits. "He the face of the BJP in West Bengal and he keeps echoing the party’s voice. Before hitting out at the state government, he should know his limits," Banerjee said.
CPM's central committee member Sujan Chakrabarty said the issues mentioned by the Governor in his tweets were raised in the state Assembly on several occasions. ‘’We asked the state government to come up with the information during the Assembly sessions. But our questions were never answered,’’ he said.
CPM’s Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Bhattacharya said this is the first time the Governor raised issues related to common people’s interest.
West Bengal had witnessed several rounds of face-off between Dhankhar and the state government since he assumed office last year. In his communications, Dhakhar had raised issues such as clipping his wings as chancellor of the universities and alleged about scams in the public distribution system along with deteriorating law and order situation in the state.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described Dhankhar’s communications of such content, tenor and tone that were unprecedented in the annals of constitutional history.