West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee engaged in a bitter exchange of words on December 16 over the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, further worsening their already sour ties.
The exchange was sparked off with the Governor asking the CM to “personally update” him on the current situation in the state, vis-à-vis protests against the new Act, since the two top officials who were supposed to do so, did not show up.
Taking to Twitter, the Governor complained that neither the Chief Secretary nor the Director-General of Police came to meet him and give him an update on the protests that have been rocking the Trinamool Congress-led state.
He wrote: “In view of the enormity of the situation I have called upon Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to personally update me at Raj Bhawan tomorrow at a time of her choice. There is no response from Chief Secretary and DGP (Director General of Police) thus far. This is unfortunate and unexpected of them.”
Dhankar added that he was stunned by how the two top officials ignored his requests for a briefing and update on the “current painful situation in Bengal… This is surely not acceptable given the enormity of the situation,” he tweeted while advising Mamata Banerjee to 'engage in soul searching'.
Responding to the taunt, the Chief Minister clarified that briefing the Governor is not the “prime focus” of her administration now. She requested him to cooperate with the state government to help to maintain peace.
In a letter addressed to the Governor, she wrote: “You would no doubt appreciate that the prime focus of the state administration at present is to maintain a peaceful situation as against what is going on throughout the country. The constitutional obligation in my view is to support the state government machinery to maintain peace and harmony rather than aggravating the situation by provoking the elements who may attempt to disturb the order and tranquility.”
The terse exchange did not end here. Governor Dhankar replied saying he was deeply anguished at what her “unwarranted tangential approach”.
Meanwhile, Didi has vowed to continue participating in the protest marches demanding the Centre to scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act that would help non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh in becoming citizens of India.
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