Breaking silence on #BengalViolence! WB Governor Jagdeep Dhankar condemns TMC for showing 'no accountability'

Kolkata, May 10: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday said that he will visit the areas affected by violence in the state in the aftermath of Assembly election results on May 2. The governor was addressing a conference where he made the announcement, while also condemning the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for showing 'no accountability'.

 

The governor called the government to 'restore credibility and bring to book the culprits who have chosen to tarnish our democratic fabric'. He also lashed out at the state police for not sending him reports on the current status in the violence-hit areas and the steps being taken to control the situation despite being directed to do so.

 

 

"The response of the state... no one knows better than I do... I don't see any sense of responsibility or accountability. On May 3, I directed the DGP and CP Kolkata to give me reports on the status of those areas. On that very day, I summoned the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to give me an update on two counts: the current status and the steps taken in public domain to contain such a menace and what plan they have to control the menace in the coming days. No report came forward," he said.

 

 

Three days ago, a four-member team of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) tasked with assessing the post-poll violence situation arrived at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata to seek a report from Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on the situation. The home ministry had asked Dhankhar to give a detailed report on the law and order situation in West Bengal, especially on May 2, when the results declaring victory for the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly elections were declared.

 

 

 

It is yesterday that Dhankhar, on a request by the CBI, sanctioned the prosecution of Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee, all of them ministers during the time of the alleged commission of a crime that came to light in the purported Narada sting tapes. "Honourable governor is the competent authority to accord sanction in terms of law as he happens to be the appointing authority for such ministers in terms of Article 164 of the Constitution," a statement issued by the officer on special duty (communication), Raj Bhavan, said.

 

 

All four were ministers in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet when the tapes were allegedly made in 2014. Hakim, Mukherjee and Mitra have been re-elected as TMC MLAs in the just-concluded assembly elections, while Chatterjee, who left the TMC to join the BJP, has severed links with both the camps.

 

 

The statement said that the sanction for prosecution of the four leaders was accorded by Dhankhar "after the CBI had made a request and made available entire documentation relevant to the case to the honourable governor and he invoked his powers under Article 163 and 164 of the Constitution, being the competent authority to accord such sanction".

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