Guv-Govt standoff in WB: Dhankhar visits Singur, says attempts being made to "conceal something"

Kolkata, Nov 14: The acrimony between the West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state government deepened on Thursday with him questioning the hullabaloo created by the ruling TMC over his unscheduled visit to Singur and wondered what was being sought to be concealed there. Dhankhar said that he in his capacity as the governor would like to spend a long time at Singur and Nandigram and gather "full knowledge" about the two places.

Singur and Nandigram saw anti-land acquisition movements in the last decade that catapaulted Trinamool Congress and its supremo Mamata Banerjee to power in the state ending the 34-year-rule of the Left Front.

"I had gone to Singur after informing the collector (district magistrate) ... Did the same thing before visiting Burdwan and Durgapur," Dhankhar told reporters here on Thursday.

"When there are attempts to conceal or hide something then the urge of the people to see it grows ... So if someone wants to hide something, then I too would like to see it," he said about his unscheduled visit to Singur, which drew reactions from TMC.

The governor said that he was pained to see women activists of a politcal party (ruling TMC) staging protests against his visit to the office of the block development officer (BDO) of Singur sub-division in Hooghly district on Monday.

The women protesters were "provoked" to put up the protest, he said. Dhankhar had paid an unscheduled visit to the BDO office of Singur on his way back to the city from Shantiniketan after attending the convocation of Visva-Bharati University.

On his way to Shantiniketan the governor had stopped at Burdwan and Durgapur and interacted with the people there. TMC had slammed the governor for allegedly exceeding his brief and wondered whether he understood his "constitutional bindings".

Dhankhar, who assumed office in July end, has been locked in a war of words with the state government over a number of issues -- ranging from his seating at the Durga Puja carnival to comments on his security since he rushed to Jadavpur University on September 19 to "rescue" Union minister Babul Supriyo, who had been gheraoed by a section of students.

PTI