West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, saying the state witnessed the worst form of post-poll violence while urging her to deliberate on the issue in the Cabinet.
“With a heavy heart, I am constrained to observe your continued silence and inaction over the post-poll retributive bloodshed, violation of human rights, outrageous assault on the dignity of women, wanton destruction of property, perpetuation of untold miseries on political opponents...worst since independence...,” said Dhankhar, who was scheduled to fly to Delhi on Tuesday and was likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah. He wrote the violence “ill augurs” for democracy.
The letter came a day after Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition, and 50 other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, met Dhankhar and lodged a complaint on post-poll violence.
The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) hit out, saying the letter was part of a ploy of the BJP-ruled Centre to disturb peace in the state. “We have urged multiple times to give us a list of victims. There were some incidents when law and order were under the ECI [Election Commission of India). But even since Mamata Banerjee was sworn in, the situation has become peaceful. We have never seen the Governor’s tweets when the Centre does not send Covid-19 vaccines, medicines and oxygen,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesperson.
Dhankhar has had an acrimonious relationship with the TMC government.
{{/usCountry}}Dhankhar has had an acrimonious relationship with the TMC government.
{{/usCountry}}Dilip Ghosh, the state BJP chief, said Dhankhar always speaks on behalf of the people who have been victimised. “Citizens of the state are asking the same questions today... Why is the chief minister silent on the post-poll violence?”
In May, Dhankhar visited some of the areas where post-poll violence allegedly broke out. He even went to Assam to meet some of the people who allegedly left the state.
In his letter, Dhankhar asked Banerjee to take all steps to restore law and order and provide the much-needed succour to the suffering people and to hold police and administration accountable in an exemplary manner for “partisan stance and failure in containing violence”.
In May, the Centre sent an inter-ministerial team to take stock of the alleged post-poll violence in the state.