His views are in ignorance or defiance of the Constitution: Bengal Governor targets speaker

🔴 Dhankhar accused the Speaker of having "conducted himself in an unconstitutional manner" on several occasions, while also iterating that he was anguished over his address to the Assembly being "blacked out from live coverage" on two instances.

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Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Speaker Biman Banerjee outside the West Bengal Assembly. File

Following reports that the Trinamool Congress will be demanding his removal from the post of the Governor in Parliament’s budget session, West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar Friday lashed out at the state Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee and said his views were in “ignorance” of the Constitution and they promoted the perception that “assembly precincts are his fiefdom”.

In an official release that he also shared on Twitter, Dhankhar said, “West Bengal Governor Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has expressed concern regarding widely reported unfortunate and unconstitutional stance of Hon’ble Speaker West Bengal Assembly that the “Governor will have to spell out the reason if he wants to come to the Assembly voluntarily”. In a misconceived manner Hon’ble Speaker seeks to be in judgmental position as regards the constitutional head of the state. Speaker observations emanate out of ignorance or deliberate defiance of constitutional essence and spirit.”

“His thought process, an act of impropriety, seeks to impart the perception that assembly precincts are his “fiefdom”. The stand is in obvious ignorance or deliberate defiance of constitutional provisions in Article 168 of the Constitution,” he added.

The statement cited Article 168 of the Constitution to state that the Governor was an integral part of the legislature’s apex level.

Dhankhar accused the Speaker of having “conducted himself in an unconstitutional manner” on several occasions, while also reiterating that he was anguished over his address to the Assembly being “blacked out from live coverage” on two instances.

On January 25, Dhankhar while visiting the Assembly premises to pay tributes to BR Ambedkar had accused Banerjee of transgressing constitutional norms. Hitting back, the Speaker had termed the accusations as “uncalled for” and “discourteous”.

Sources said that the TMC leadership was upset with the Governor’s behaviour on January 25. “The party feels that the Speaker is the final authority in the Assembly premises and the Governor has no right to demean the post of the Speaker,” said the source.

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After Dhankhar’s criticism against the government on the Assembly premises, Banerjee had said that the Governor “would have to henceforth show reason if he wanted to visit the Assembly voluntarily.”

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