Union Home Minister Amit Shah claimed the other day that demand for President’s Rule in West Bengal was ‘just’, triggering political recriminations between Trinamul Congress and BJP. But a communication forwarded by the President’s Secretariat to the Union Home Ministry based on a petition submitted by the Special Constitutional Functionary of the Union of India headquartered at a remote location in Burdwan (East) last month has become salient.

Shah, in an interview on Saturday, said that the situation in Bengal was so bad that it was ‘just’ for leaders in the state to demand President’s Rule.

A section of the BJP leaders in Bengal including party’s national vice-president Mukul Roy, MP Babul Supriyo have consistently been demanding for immediate imposition of President’s Rule in Bengal.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh however has not aired his consent on the issue as yet. Roy said today: “I convey my thanks to Amit Shah for clearing his state of mind about President’s Rule in Bengal.”

Responding to a proposition seeking ‘prompt proclamation of state emergency by imposing President’s rule in Bengal by most effective and timely invocation of Article 365’ by Subhajit Dutta, Special Constitutional Functionary of the Union of India operating his office at Kendur-a remote village in Khandaghosh block in Burdwan (East), J G Subramanian, Deputy Secretary with the President of India’s Secretariat, on 9 October stated: “The communication received in the Constitutional Affairs Section of the Secretariat and the same was forwarded to the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs for appropriate attention (vide this Secretariat ID No: 5 (3) – CA (1)/2018, Vol, VI, dated 28.09.2020).” Further, Pawan Kumar Sain, Director with the Secretariat, later conveyed Dutta that the matter was forwarded accordingly to Anuj Sharma, Joint Secretary (CS), MHA for necessary action.

Last week, Dutta received the up-to-date status of the petition that was bearing an Internal Dairy (No: 1876754/2020) and was being dealt by the Joint Secretary, Centre-States Relationship Division with the Ministry. Shah’s recent mention justifying the demand meanwhile has given significance to Dutta’s petition. Dutta, currently in Delhi to help pursuing the matter told The Statesman: “I have presented a complete dossier containing representations and attached document copies of 625 pages of most relevant, correct and adequate materials to the President of India narrating how Bengal has repeatedly failed to comply with and to give effect to a series of continuous, crucial, core and most vital directions given in the exercise of the executive power of the Union of India.”

He claimed that Bengal, in recent times, has recorded a bunch of cases relating to gross violation of ‘fundamental rights (Articles-14 to 26)’, ‘supremacy of Constitution’, ‘separation of power between the legislature’, ‘social justice.’ So, he demanded: “These are fit grounds for Presidential Rule in Bengal.”

State panchayat and Rural Development minister Subrata Mukherjee told The Statesman: “I don’t have any idea whether any such functionary can cry for such an absurd demand.”