Five Trinamool Congress MPs on Wednesday, 30 December, sent a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s dismissal after his history of conflicts with the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government since last year.
TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray drafted the message with support from MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
The Indian Express quoted the memorandum that read, “We submit that the Governor has failed to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and repeatedly breached law declared by the Supreme Court. From the seat of the highest Constitutional office in the state, Governor Dhankhar has been inducing divisive politics, just because ruling parties at the Centre and state are political opponents.”
It added, “Some of the recent words/utterances/tweets/media briefings directed against the West Bengal government, Hon’ble Chief Minister and All India Trinamool Congress reflect flagrant disregard to constitutional norms, proprieties and ethics. Some remarks are provocative and incite action which could lead to law and order problems.”
Highlighting that Dhankar is aiding the dismantling of federalism, it read “Such tendencies and inclinations on the part of the Constitutional Head of the state to openly support a political party strikes at the very root of federalism which the Supreme Court has held to be a basic structure of India’s Constitution.”
'HE SHOWS NO WILL TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION'
The memorandum also noted the successes of the Mamata Banerjee government and said, “All this notwithstanding, Home Minister Amit Shah spread canards against the government of West Bengal during his visits to the state in November and December. His comments on the issue of the law and order situation were echoed and amplified by the Governor Shri Dhankar against the state government is not only unprecedented, unwarranted and uncalled for, but also smacks of his hypocrisy to act under the orders of his masters in Delhi. He shows no will to protect or defend the constitution.”
Dhankar had earlier tweeted that the West Bengal Police had a “de facto boss” in Surajit Kar Purkayastha, a retired police officer who serves as State Security Adviser, and that Mamta Banerjee had reportedly “vigorously engaged in translating politically motivated police actions.”
The MPs hit back, saying he “had gone to the extent of naming and defaming senior officers of the Civil and the Police Services of West Bengal, thereby denigrating their official positions in the eyes of the people.”
(With inputs by The Indian Express)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)