I am not a stakeholder in politics, Governor Dhankhar tells Mamata Banerjee
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote a letter to Mamata Banerjee after she criticised him without taking name during a virtual interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.
West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee saying he was “stunned and shocked” by her remark on Monday that “there are some who do non-cooperation despite holding constitutional and keep harassing the state. It should not happen.”
Banerjee made the remark, without naming Dhankhar or the office he holds, while attending a virtual programme in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched high throughput Covid-19 testing facilities at the Indian Council for Medical Research’s (ICMR) national institutes in Mumbai, Kolkata and Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
“I take strong exception to such uncharitable, unfounded and unmerited stance. These are unbecoming of the position you hold,” Dhankhar wrote in the two-page letter which was released to the media.
“I am not a stakeholder in politics but have undoubted stakes in governance in the state in view of my constitutional obligation….,” wrote Dhankhar who has been accused by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on numerous occasions of acting like a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main adversary of Banerjee in the coming 2021 assembly polls.
The acrimonious relationship between Raj Bhawan and the government has been making headlines since September last year with the TMC accusing Dhankhar of overstepping his limits and interfering in day-to-day affairs of the government.
Giving a long account of what he has done as governor, Dhankhar wrote, “Non responsive stance at your end is not in consonance with the Constitution. I am required to be aware of the state of affairs and affairs of the state.”
Accusing the state police of “putting a finger in every pie,” Dhankhar wrote that “failed governance at ground level cannot be covered up by cosy position in the media.”
Bengal’s minister of state for parliamentary affairs Tapas Roy took a swipe at the governor by saying if Dhankhar had no stake in politics then he would not have reacted to the chief minister’s statement that did not even mention him.
“It was a virtual meeting between the chief minister and the prime minister and Dhankhar had no role there. He should rather play a sympathetic role to help people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Roy.
