Officials skip meet again, Governor asks if there is ‘censorship’ in Bengal

As senior officials and locals MPs and MLAs did not turn up at the meeting, an upset Governor hit out the state government. “I am not the subordinate. Then, why necessary permission (by the officers) would be needed? This is unconstitutional. They are saying senior officers are busy with the Chief Minister’s meeting in north Bengal. If Chief Minister (Mamata Banerjee) is in a meeting, will the whole government be on a holiday? This is very unfortunate. There should be a free flow of information,” Dhankar told mediapersons here.

“I don’t think this scenario will continue. All the stakeholders will assess them and will change their mindset,” the Governor added.

Although a guard of honour was accorded to him at Dhamakhali in North 24 Parganas, none of the senior government officials of the district attended his meeting. Basirhat Sub-Divisional Officer Vivek Vasmi, Additional District Magistrate (General) North 24 Parganas Sudhir Kuntham and Additional SP Chandan Ghosh were the only senior officers present at the venue. While Opposition MLAs had come to attend the meeting, none of the ruling legislators came. Later, an angry Governor cancelled the meeting.

At Sajnekhali in South 24 Parganas, too, none of the senior government officials or public representatives came for the meeting.

“I am astonished to receive the letters from the district officials in which they have expressed their inability to attend the meetings, that too four days after my intimation. I do not know whether some sort of censorship is in place in West Bengal… Despite this, I will continue my tour of the districts,” PTI quoted Governor as saying.

He also mentioned that the District Magistrate had sent a letter stating that “state government’s’’ permission was necessary to call the participants of the meeting.

On the heels of Dhankhar’s remark, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijaywargia said that the way the Governor was being “insulted” by the state government. “There are some constitutional norms, which every state government has to follow. But from the behaviour that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar faced, it seems the Mamata Banerjee’s government has created a new set of rules and does not abide by the country’s Constitution…” Vijaywargiya said.

But the Trinamool Congress leadership hit back. Senior Trinamool leader and state minister Rabindra Nath Ghosh said, “We have never seen this kind of administrative meetings. Here, such meetings are chaired by CM Mamata Banerjee. I think the Governor has no idea how many administrative meetings our chief minister has held over the last few years. The Governor should remain within his constitutional limits…” said Ghosh.