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Withdraw ‘jihad against BJP’ remark, Bengal governor tells Mamata. TMC responds
On Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s letter to Mamata Banerjee, the TMC said the most common interpretation of jihad is protest and that is what Banerjee meant and described the governor’s actions “unabashed and shameless”
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s remark that Trinamool Congress (TMC) will observe July 21 as “a day of jihad” against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) indicates constitutional anarchy, Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote to her on Wednesday evening after receiving a complaint from the state BJP.
The TMC observes July 21 as its shahid divas (martyr’s day) in memory of the 13 youth Congress workers killed in police firing in Kolkata in 1993 when the Left Front was in power. Banerjee, who was then a youth Congress leader, was leading an agitation.
While addressing a meeting at Asansol in West Burdwan district on Tuesday, Banerjee said that this year her party will observe July 21 as “day of jihad” against the BJP, Dhankhar wrote to her, citing a video that a BJP team led by leader of the opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, showed him.
“The statement, revealed in the video, is most unfortunate and indicates constitutional anarchy. It defies logic and reason as to how one under the oath of Constitution and holding the position of chief minister could make such pernicious declaration of ‘jihad’ against a political party,” said Dhankhar in his letter.
Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had earlier in the evening put out a copy of the representation received from the BJP on Twitter, also released a video clip of Mamata Banerjee, his reaction on video and a copy of his letter to the chief minister.
‘This is death knell of democracy and rule of law. Nothing can be more authoritarian and undemocratic. On numerous occasions, including to the TMC delegation yesterday, I have indicated that governance in the state is far distanced from Constitution and law,” Dhankhar said, referring to the team of TMC leaders that met him on Tuesday.
“I cannot but take strongest possible exception to your statement. To observe democratic values and constitutionalism, you are urged to forthwith withdraw this most unconstitutional declaration of ‘jihad’ against the BJP on July 21, 2022,” Dhankhar’s letter said, urging the chief minister to respond immediately.
There has been no word from the chief minister’s office. But Mamata Banerjee’s party, Trinamool Congress, responded.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar told HT that the most common interpretation of jihad is protest and that is what Banerjee meant.
“What the governor has suggested is preposterous. The Constitution says the role of a governor is that of a supportive factor to an elected state government. Our governor, however, has always been a supportive factor for the BJP, a party he once belonged to. His actions are unabashed and shameless,” Majumdar said.
Suvendu Adhikari raised the issue while leading a candlelight procession in Kolkata on Wednesday evening in protest against the murder of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
