There is no rule of law in Bengal: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

The governor criticised Mamata for not allegedly providing information to him on several issues like the Bengal Global Business Summit

Jagdeep Dhankhar (left); Mamata Banerjee (right):File picture

TT Special Correspondent   |   Calcutta   |  26.01.22  : Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday came down heavily on the state government saying there was no rule of law in Bengal and went after chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee and senior civil servants.

“The situation in Bengal is so dangerous that there is no rule of law. There is the rule of the ruler here.... There is a fear of the ruler here. This is a cause of concern for me as the governor of the state,” Dhankhar said after paying floral tributes to the statue of B.R. Ambedkar at the Assembly.

“The government officials have forgotten their duties. They have forgotten the constitutional obligations. Their actions are far distant from the Constitution,” he went on.

The governor criticised Mamata for not allegedly providing information to him on several issues like the Bengal Global Business Summit.

Dhankhar stressed no bills forwarded by the Assembly were pending with him. The clarification was in response to the Biman Banerjee’s earlier claims that some of the key bills were pending for approval with Raj Bhavan.

The Speaker said the remarks of the governor were uncalled for.

“The honourable governor had come to pay tributes to B.R. Ambedkar. It was not known to us that he would be utilising this platform for a press conference. This is totally unwarranted and discourteous,” he told the reporters.

He reiterated that several bills were lying pending with the governor before wondering why he had made all those statements on an occasion like this. “I don’t know whose brief he is holding,” said Biman.

Trinamul Congress MP Sougata Roy said: “He is speaking absurd… He is attacking an elected state government without any reason.”