‘Don't play with fire’: Governor warns Mamata over Bengal violence

Kolkata, Dec 11: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday condemned chief minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks after BJP national president JP Nadda's convoy came under an attack in Diamond Harbour on Thursday, and asked her "not to play with fire".

Castigating the Mamata Banerjee government over the attack, allegedly by TMC supporters, Dhankhar said a dangerous game of insider and outsider is going on in the state.

Several vehicles in Nadda''s cavalcade were damaged and BJP leaders and workers injured by stone-throwing protesters carrying TMC flags at Sirakol when he was travelling to Diamond Harbour to address a public meeting.

"Finding the situation alarming, as my constitutional duty, I have sent a report to the central government about the extremely disturbing developments that do not augur well for democratic values, that are antithetical to rule of law, that sound death knell of constitutional parameters," he told a press conference at the Raj Bhawan.

He said that he does not wish to share the contents of the report as part of propriety.

The TMC reacted sharply to the governor''s remarks, calling him a "conduit pipe" of the BJP.

"The governor has made a habit of speaking to the press daily. We do not want to react to his statements, we can only say he is a conduit pipe of Bharatiya Janata Party," TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee told reporters.

Addressing the press conference where he excoriated Mamata Banerjee, Dhankhar asserted, "The governor will vindicate his oath, come what may."

He said it is shameful that such an incident occurred on International Human Rights Day.

"Accountability will be enforced," he said, cautioning Banerjee not to "play with fire".

Noting that calling an Indian citizen an outsider is an attack on the Constitution, he said, "This is too dangerous to be acceptable by anyone who believes in Indian Constitution and rule of law."

The TMC supremo has on several occasions said that the BJP is bringing outsiders into the state for the upcoming assembly elections.

Claiming that the BJP is bringing musclemen from outside and sending them to the villages in West Bengal, she had told a farmers'' protest rally here on Thursday to challenge them and file FIRs against such entrants.

"If you move away from the path of the Constitution, then my responsibility begins," the governor said. "The law and order situation in the state has been worsening with each passing day. Despite cautioning the chief minister and the administration nothing has happened," he said.

Dhankhar said the non-responsive stance of the chief minister towards the Raj Bhawan is an indication that governance in the state is not in accordance with the Constitution.

Claiming that distancing of governance from the rule of law cannot be accepted in democracy, he said, "unconstitutional parameters are at an alarming level making it extremely difficult for me to conclude that governance in the state is in accordance with the Constitution."

Describing the attack on J P Nadda''s convoy on Thursday as most "unfortunate and a slur on our democractic fabric," he said "The violators of law in Bengal have immunity and protection of political police and administration."

"Present political scenario in West Bengal is that any opposition is ruthlessly suppressed...human rights were in flames yesterday on World Human Rights Day," Dhankhar said.

Describing Banerjee''s comments on the incident of attack on Nadda''s convoy as "most unfortunate", he said "I take a very serious note of the statement that emanated from Hon''ble the Chief Minister, how can a responsible chief minister believing in rule of law, Constitution, subscribing to the rich Bengali culture talk the way she did."

Dhankhar said the chief minister should apologise for her statement on the attack and her observations on the president of the ruling party at the Centre.

Banerjee had on Thursday termed the incident of attack on the BJP president''s convoy as a drama to divert attention from lack of attendance at his rally, while questioning whether it was "planned" for the purpose of propaganda.

She had mockingly uttered distorted versions of the BJP chief''s surname.

Holding that a governor is not a post office, Dhankhar said he will not fiddle around in Raj Bhavan when human rights are being violated.

"Are we in a situation that bonhomie with the ruling dispensation alone guarantees your rights? You cannot have any democratic or human rights unless you are on the right side of the ruling party," he said, asking "does it not signal the death knell of democracy?"

Appealing to Diamond Harbour MP and Mamata''s nephew Abhishek Banerjee not to "tarnish the fabric of democracy", Dhankhar said, "I wish he had not said what he said."

The TMC youth wing president had termed the attack on Nadda''s convoy as an outburst of people''s anger with the BJP.

Maintaining that the state is heading towards anarchy and lawlessness, Dhankhar said he has asked the state''s chief secretary and the DGP to send the message to lower rungs in police and administration to be politically neutral.

Dhankhar said the attack happened despite his alerting the two top state officials about the possibility of "collapse" of law and order during Nadda''s public meeting.

When asked about Dhankhar''s claim that he had informed the state administration of possible law and order problem well in advance on Thursday morning, TMC lawmaker Kalyan Banerjee said the governor''s source of information must have been the BJP "who were to create the situation".

Dhankhar said he wants to send a message across to some bureaucrats who "are integrated as stakeholders in the political field" that they are doing "everything under the sun to act not as public servants but as political workers".

Noting that he has information about these officials, Dhankhar said he will share the "sensitive details" with the chief minister as and when she spares time.