After the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) summoned the Chief Secretary and DGP of West Bengal to explain law and order situation in the state, TMC has branded the move unconstitutional in a letter to the Centre.

Following the attack on BJP national president JP Nadda’s convoy in Diamond Harbour on Friday, MHA had asked WB Chief Secretary Alapan Banerjee and DGP Virendra to visit New Delhi.

However, both Banerjee and Virendra asked to be excused. In an official letter to the Home Ministry, the Chief Secretary said that the state government “is already addressing this issue with utmost seriousness”.

“Kindly refer to the letter whereby the Chief Secretary and the Director-General of Police, Government of West Bengal have been requested to attend a meeting on December 14, 2020, at 12.15 PM in your chamber to discuss the law and order situation in the State of West Bengal including the incidents regarding certain Z-category protectees,” Alapan Banerjee wrote in his letter.

“While further reports are being obtained and compiled, in the circumstances, I am directed to request you to kindly dispense with the presence of the State officials in the meeting, considering that the State Government is already addressing this issue with utmost seriousness,” he said in his two-page letter.

The summon had come after West Bengal governor Jagdeem Dhankhar had submitted a report to the MHA about the law enforcement situation in the state, as directed to him by Home Minister Amit Shah.

At a time when a response from the Home Ministry was anticipated, the TMC-led West Bengal government has hit back at the Home Ministry again by calling it’s move to summon Chief Secretary and DGP “against the spirit of the Constitution” in its letter to Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, reported The Wall.

Representating the West Bengal administration, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said law and order fell under the dominion of the state government and asked under what jurisdiction the MHA had called for Alapan Banerjee and Vierndra.

Alleging that the Centre went against the spirit of the constitution, Kalyan accused the BJP-led NDA government of vying for political vengeance against West Bengal.

“What the central government is doing by sending a letter [seeking a report] from the state government is unconstitutional. The MHA summoning the chief secretary and DGP is unacceptable. The BJP and the central government are trying to create a situation where they can interfere with the federal structure,” wrote Kalyan in his letter, accessed by ANI.

“In respect of the law and order issue, the State Government is accountable to the State Legislative Assembly but not to you or to your Home Minister. You are proceeding with a political vendetta and motive. You should refrain from doing so,” he added.

Kalyan, the Serampore lawmaker, refused the Centre’s allegations that enough security was not provided for Nadda’s convoy.

He said that the BJP national president breached protocols by inducting unnecessary vehicles of BJP cadres and workers in his motorcade.

“One, Rakesh Singh, a BJP leader, from his car was raising abusive slogans provocating the persons standing thereby showing his body language. Rakesh Singh is a known criminal in West Bengal. He is a convict in one case and 59 criminal cases are pending against him for instigating the violence. What was he doing in Nadda’s convoy? Why Nadda was accompanied by anti-socials and criminals?” Banerjee wrote in his letter.

Pulling no punches, Kalyan claimed that the MHA was behaving as the “political slave” of Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He said that West Bengal’s IAS and IPS officers had been kept under unwarranted pressure which, he alleged, was proving detrimental to the federal structure of Indian democracy.