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‘Unprecedented in annals of political history’: Mamata slams Guv Dhankhar in 13-page letter
After listing a series of phrases from the two letters that the governor had written to her earlier, the chief minister said in her letter that “such words and such communications of such content, tenor and tone from a Governor to an elected CM are unprecedented in the annals of Indian constitutional and political history”.
Continuing her battle of letters with governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote a 13-page letter, accusing the governor of “dreaming of a diarchy in the state” and his approach being “constitutionally impermissible”.
After listing a series of phrases from the two letters that the governor had written to her earlier, the chief minister said in her letter that “such words and such communications of such content, tenor and tone from a Governor to an elected CM are unprecedented in the annals of Indian constitutional and political history”.
“…You have used words about me, and even more importantly, my minister and officer, which, even with maximum restraint, can only be described as vituperative, intemperate, intimidating, abusive and insulting,” CM Banerjee wrote.
“I would challenge anyone, repeat anyone, to produce such correspondence and such oral-statements from any Governor to any CM in any part of India at any point of time since our Constitution came into force in 1950,” she wrote while referring to the governor’s two letters to her, dated April 23 and 24. She said that the letters made her more amused and sad than angry.
The governor’s letters had come in response to the chief minister’s letter to him on April 23, which was a response to a series of communications that Dhankhar made to the chief minister since the Covid-19 pandemic took centre-stage in the nation.
In her May 2 letter, Banerjee highlighted that the “the paramountcy of the State Legislature (as, indeed, of Parliament) is subject only to the Constitution, judicial review and the basic structure doctrine and certainly not even remotely to the office of Governor.”
She wrote, “The Cabinet of the State, led by the Chief Minister, exercises all executive functions in the state, with the CM being the executive head of the State. In all this… the Governor was never intended to and plays absolutely no role.”
She quoted from the reports of the Sarkaria Commission and a Supreme Court judgment to prove her point and wrote, “In a nutshell, Respected Governor, the crux of the matter, which is being missed by you, is that if you a) do not agree with me or my Government, b) find that the state is not being run as you like it, c) find wrong decisions, wrong appointments, wrong policies, wrong everything; You may (politely) bring your grievance to my attention (not write to Ministers, departments, officers or go to Press or public) and, if it is still not resolved to your satisfaction, there is, unfortunately no other power in you, so long as my government commands the confidence of the legislature.”
Dhankhar responded on social media in the evening in a series of tweets. “No time to bicker. There are no sane takers for this unseemly scenario. I have held enough close to my chest- looks like revealing is becoming unavoidable. Reply will be sent as her letter has content to which I cannot subscribe as it eclipses essence of Constitution,” he wrote in one of his tweets.
