West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday visited areas of Assam bordering the State and said it was a matter of shame that the people of West Bengal had to take shelter in adjoining States to escape violence.
“Nothing can be more shameful for us than people of West Bengal taking shelter in other States,” he told journalists in Siliguri.
The Governor, who visited Cooch Behar district on Thursday against the advice of the State government, said the government had not done anything to contain the post election violence. “Even the media did not do anything. It is an open secret who the perpetrators were,” he observed.
Asked about the law and order situation in the State, he said he was not in favour of confrontation but believed in cooperation. “We are heading in a wrong direction and there can be a point of no return...the State of West Bengal is witnessing two big issues — the pandemic and post election retributive violence.”
In a tweet Mr Dhankhar urged the Chief Minister to take to cooperative and constitutional stance.
“Would urge @MamataOfficial to take to cooperative and constitutional stance and give up confrontationist approach as this alone can blossom democracy, promote rule of law and serve the people. Would take initiative to so accomplish by deliberating with CM,” the Governor added.
The Trinamool Congress leadership and the State government has spoken against Governor's visit to areas in north Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has described the Governor’s visit to violence affected areas as “unilateral proceedings” against the established norms. The Trinamool Congress leadership on Friday continued to target the Governor stating that he is transgressing his “Constitutional limitations”. A section of TMC leadership raised question as to why the Governor did not visit the families of those in Cooch Behar who were killed on the polling day on April 10.
Meanwhile, the Governor said on social media that he will be visiting post poll violence affected areas in Nandigram on Saturday.
In another development, a team of National Commission of Scheduled Caste led by its chairperson Vijay Sampla visited violence affected areas in Bardhaman and South 24 Parganas. In a press statement Mr Sampla said that the police in West Bengal is taking action as per provisions of the Scheduled Caste Atrocities Prevention Act and families affected by the violence did not receive any compensation.
