West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Sunday conducted a ‘confidential enquiry’ into the attack on the convoy of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik and added that the Governor “will not be a mute witness to any deterioration of law and order anywhere, anytime in the State”.
The Governor, while pointing out that violence was not a part of civilised conduct, added that he had personally discussed the issue with Mr. Pramanik.
“The Constitution should be upheld by all those who are committed to do so. Bengal expects every officer to do his duty, without fear or favour, be he in the police or magistracy or any wing of governance. Any laxity in the maintenance of law and order will lead to chaos and anarchy, which will never be tolerated,” the press statement from Raj Bhawan, said.
The convoy of Mr. Pramanik, who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Cooch Behar, was attacked on February 25, not far from his residence. The incident triggered clashes between the supporters of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. According to the district police, 23 persons were arrested in connection with the violence.
The Governor has sought an action-taken report in the matter and urged the government to take “immediate and perceptible action while dealing with the criminals and upholding the rule of law”.
“Governor misinformed”
“As Governor, it is my duty to ensure that West Bengal does not slip into a “soft State”. Rule of law will be established with an iron fist in a velvet glove. Democracy will not be allowed to degenerate into mobocracy,” the press statement said.
BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had called on the Governor and raised the issue. The press statement from Raj Bhawan evoked a sharp response from the Trinamool Congress with party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh saying that the Governor was “misinformed “ and was “ trying to protect his job”.
The strongly worded press statement marks a departure from the earlier stand taken by the Governor who had showered praise on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government, on several occasions in the past. The Chief Minister had described Mr. Ananda Bose as a “gentleman”.
Things started to take a different turn when the Governor sought the removal of Nandini Chakraborty, who was the Principal Secretary to Raj Bhawan. The relations between the Raj Bhawan and the State Secretariat had been far from being cordial during the regime of Jagdeep Dhankhar, who was elected Vice President in August 2022.
