KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday visited Nandigram Assembly constituency, from where CM Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP’s candidate Suvendu Adhikari, and he broke down into tears while giving his reaction to media.
Wiping out tears with a handkerchief, Dhankhar said he never heard of such post-poll violence.
"Where have I come? I can’t believe what I have experienced. Democracy never allows such violence. I never heard of such violence after elections," said Dhankhar at Nandigram’s Kendamari.
Dhankhar arrived in Nandigram in a BSF helicopter and visited the areas where post-poll violence unleashed by the ruling Trinamool Congress took place. "It is time when we can’t sleep over, such a great challenge to our state. We are sitting on a volcano where people are forced to leave their houses, they are being subjected to all kind of indignities, killings, rapes, loots and extortion tax. I would appeal to the chief minister, it is high time she took note of it. Millions of people are suffering," Dhankhar further said.
On Thursday, Dhankhar visited Sitalkuchi in north Bengal where four persons were gunned down by central forces on an election day and the following day, he went to Assam to meet those who fled Bengal and took refuge there.
After his visit, the governor, who has been at loggerheads with Mamata Banerjee since he assumed office in 2019, tweeted: "After listening to tales of sorrow no tears left in my eyes. Never imagined severity of post poll retributive violence."
Reacting to Dhankhar’s Nandigram visit, TMC MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy, said, "No one takes him seriously. People in Bengal have understood that he is misusing his position and crossing constitutional limits."