Kolkata: Ambedkar birth anniversary celebrations within the West Bengal Assembly premises on Thursday turned into a venue for a verbal spat between Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Biman Banerjee.
The Governor, who came to the Assembly premises to pay floral tributes, chose the occasion to pour out his opinion about the law & order in the state.
“West Bengal has become a gas chamber for democracy. First the people are burnt alive and the victims of the family members are offered jobs. Why are there so many questions on the Central Bureau of Investigation probe? The state government does not forward any report to the governor. The crime against women is on the rise. No action was taken even after so many incidents of post-poll violence in the state. I wonder whether some consider themselves to be above the law,” the Governor said with the Assembly Speaker standing next to him.
Dhankhar also referred to incident of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, when two groups of advocates, one having affiliations with the ruling Trinamool Congress and the other to CPI-M, clashed within the court premises over the issue of boycott of the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who ordered CBI grilling for erstwhile state education minister, Partha Chatterjee (currently the state commerce & industries minister) in the probe on recruitment irregularities of West Bengal School Service A|Commission (WBSSC).
“What happened at Calcutta High Court on Wednesday was most unfortunate. The temple of justice was shamed. The people of the state are living with constant fear,” the government.
While he was speaking to the mediapersons, the Speaker tried to interrupt and reminded him that the Assembly premises was not the place for media interaction. But the Governor totally ignored him and kept on speaking to the media.
Immediately after the Governor left, Speaker Biman Banerjee told newspersons that no one should cross the limits. “The governor says a lot of things, many of which are not true. We operate as per provisions of the India constitution,” the Speaker said.
The state transport minister and the Kolkata mayor, Firhad Hakim also reminded the Governor of his limits. “The governor can seek report or give suggestions to the state government. But the state cabinet runs the administration as per constitutional provisions. If the governor desires extra constitutional power, that is never possible,” Hakim said.
BJP’s state spokesperson, Shamik Bhattacharya came in defence of the Governor. “It has been a habit of the Trinamool Congress leaders, including the chief minister, to attack the governor on any issue. It is true that West Bengal is going through a constitutional crisis. That is why the ruling party is attacking the governor,” he said.
