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Journalism of Courage
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee, whose mocking mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairperson and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has caused a stir, has a long history of using pejorative language to target Dhankar during the latter’s tenure as West Bengal Governor between 2019 and 2022.
Dhankhar’s stint in West Bengal was marked by bitter exchanges with the TMC, the state government, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Kalyan would often be at the forefront of the attack on the then Governor.
His act of mimicking Dhankhar on the Parliament premises – and of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recording it – on Wednesday prompted sharp reactions from President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mamata, meanwhile, eluded commenting on the issue on Wednesday. “You would not have seen the video had Rahul ji not recorded it. I have nothing to say. Our Parliamentary party leaders will answer,” she said during a press conference after meeting the PM.ra
The previous night, Kalyan had told The Indian Express: “I am a member of the Lok Sabha. I never seen Rajya Sabha proceedings or Rajya Sabha TV. How can I copy Dhankhar ji? I am surprised he took it personally. Does this mean he behaves like this? This is an art; he should take it sportingly.”
Kalyan’s actions, though, are not exactly new.
On May 7, 2021, Dhankhar had sanctioned the prosecution of TMC ministers based on a request by the CBI, which was probing allegations of politicians accepting bribes.
After the CBI made the arrests, Kalyan had said: “Governor did not consult the state government or the Assembly speaker. He has done this vindictively. He is a bloodsucker. He is trying to suck the blood of the Trinamool Congress.”
“He is trying to secure a ticket from the BJP before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. That is why he is doing all this… We will move the court against this,” Kalyan had said.
Later that month, Kalyan had asked TMC workers to lodge police complaints against Dhankhar.
Attacking Dhankhar on May 23, 2021, he had said, “We know no legal action can be taken against the Governor. But he will not be the Governor for the rest of his life. So I told grassroots activists to file a case against him at the police station where he is found provoking crimes, violence and religious divide. Action will be taken against him when he is not the Governor. Maybe the Presidency jail will be his place.”
During the pandemic, in June 2020, after a video of bodies being dragged into a van by the Kolkata civic body staff went viral, Dhankhar had sought an apology from the CM.
Hitting back, Kalyan asked him to turn Raj Bhawan into a quarantine centre if he was so worried. “If he cares for the people, then for the sake of humanity, he should throw open half of Raj Bhawan for the treatment of Covid patients or turn it into a quarantine centre.”
It was in July 2019 when Dhankhar was appointed Governor of West Bengal.
During his tenure, he had flagged a host of issues that aggravated the TMC government – from the deteriorating law and order situation to poll-related violence to seeking financial details of the Bengal Global Business Summit.
Such was the animosity that at one point, Mamata blocked him on Twitter.
