The Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday for the second time in 48 hours, at a time when the Trinamul Congress government has criticised him for his anti-establishment stance.
Dhankhar, who has been critical of Mamata Banerjee government over its alleged failure to stop post-poll violence in the state, said, “In Delhi, I spoke to some people. We cannot compromise on democracy; we cannot compromise on rule of law and we cannot compromise with the Constitution. I am hopeful that everyone will listen to my sane voice.”
“I want everyone to rise to the occasion and try to wipe the tears of those families and people who have to leave their houses, whose near and dear ones have been killed, injured, whose houses have been subjected to arson and loot. We cannot survive in a democracy if people have to pay extortion fees to run their small business,” Dhankhar said after his second meeting with Shah.
It may be noted that the state government Banerjee and Dhankhar have been at the loggerheads over a range of issues. Over the past few weeks, Dhankhar has raised concerns over the alleged incidents of political violence in West Bengal.
The governor had sent a report on the violence to the Centre soon after the Bengal polls. Before his Delhi visit, he had slammed Banerjee over her handling of the violence.
The state government, however, claimed that the post-poll violence was “somewhat unabated” when the Election Commission was in charge of law and order in Bengal, adding that the cabinet restored order once the oath ceremony was over.
Dhankar also met President Ram Nath Kovind and Union ministers Prahlad Joshi and Pralhad Singh Patel, besides calling on senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
In a press conference, senior Trinamul leader and MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, “There is absolute peace and law and order in the state. In spite of that, one who is complaining is doing this with an ulterior motive and it has got a political intention.”
“For this reason, he (Dhankhar) is roaming about in Delhi for the last five days so that he can present a wrong picture of West Bengal and its people. But the people of Bengal will never accept this intentional propaganda to show the state in a poor light in front of the country,” he added.
Earlier on Saturday morning, the Calcutta High Court criticised the Mamata Banerjee-led government, saying that the state did not take any concrete steps to address the complaints pertaining to post-poll violence.