Bengal Guv attacks Mamata govt again, alleges violence, trampling of human rights

PTI, Jan 30, 2022, 4:14 PM IST

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, and launched another attack on the Mamata Banerjee government, stating that he cannot see ”trampling of human rights” and the state ”getting drenched” in violence.

Asserting that no amount of ”insults” will deter him from performing his duties, Dhankhar said violence and democracy do not go together, and urged all to become messenger of peace and non-violence as a tribute to the father of the nation.

”I cannot see the hallowed land of Bengal getting blood drenched (in violence) and becoming a laboratory for trampling of human rights. People are saying that the state is turning into a gas chamber of democracy,” Dhankhar said at Gandhi Ghat on the bank of Hooghly river at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district.

He also said the situation had become such that the Calcutta High Court had to order the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission to form a fact-finding committee to probe into allegations of human rights violations in post-poll violence in West Bengal last year.

”No amount of insults will deter me from my path. It has not been appropriate for the chief minister of the state (Mamata Banerjee) to make derogatory remarks within and even outside the state,” he said.

Dhankhar said it has to be everyone’s effort to ensure that there is ”peace in the society in terms of the Constitution of the country”. The governor, who has crossed swords with the Mamata Banerjee government over several issues since assuming charge in the state, recently accused the chief minister and the speaker of the assembly of transgressing constitutional norms by not providing him the information he had sought on multiple matters.

He has had run-ins over appointments of vice chancellors of universities, calling bureaucrats to his office for explanations. On January 25, the governor, after paying floral tributes at the statue of B R Ambedkar on the assembly premises, had described the political condition in Bengal as “horrible and frightening”.