Following his remarks on the West Bengal Chief Minister’s observations about the Army, the Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi was criticised by Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.
In two quick messages on twitter, Ms. Banerjee said that the Governor’s statement “is unfortunate” and that Mr Tripathi “is speaking in the voice of the Central Government.”
Earlier in the day, Mr. Tripathi said that an institution like the Indian Army should not be “defamed.”
“Every person should take care in making allegations against a responsible organisation like the Army. Don’t let down the Army. Don’t defame the Army,” he told the journalists on the sidelines of a programme in the city. However, Mr. Tripathi did not name any one.
Following his remarks Ms. Banerjee alleged that Mr. Tripathi is “speaking” for the Central government.
“Governor is speaking in the voice of Central Government!! He was not in the city for about 8 days,” was the first of the two tweets of the Chief Minister. She advised Mr Tripathi to check facts in the second message. “Before making statements, all details should have been checked. It is very unfortunate,” she tweeted on Saturday evening.
Ms. Banerjee had earlier alleged that the Army deployed in the toll plazas was “collecting” money.
“They (Army) are collecting toll from the vehicles. This is not the Army’s job. It means that unethical activities are taking place,” the Chief Minister said. An Army statement said [on Friday] that such allegations are “baseless.” The statement clarified that the Army was engaged in “routine annual data collection of loads carriers” in 19 toll plazas in the State to handle future emergency situations. The Army personnel left the toll tax counters on Friday night.
