Hours after West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar described the death of eight people at Rampurhat as horrific and claimed that the state is in the grip of a culture of violence and lawlessness, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that his comments have political overtones.
In a letter to Dhankhar, she said his comments are unbecoming of a person holding such a dignified constitutional post and requested him to refrain from making unwarranted statements.
Eight persons including two children were charred to death in a village near Rampurhat in Birbhum district, soon after the murder of a local leader of the ruling Trinamool Congress. “Horrifying violence and arson orgy #Rampurhat #Birbhum indicates state is in grip of violence culture and lawlessness,” the governor tweeted.
The governor claimed that the incident is indicative of deterioration of law and order in the state. “The administration is required to rise above partisan interests which in spite of cautions is not being reflected in reality,” Dhankhar said in a video message attached with the Twitter post.
Asking the police to deal with the matter professionally, the governor said that he has asked the state chief secretary to send him an update on the incident urgently. He alleged that human rights are in decimation and rule of law has capsized in West Bengal.
“Your utterances and statements have political overtones which provide support to other political parties to browbeat the government,” the chief minister said in a letter to Dhankhar. Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said that the state is saddened at the loss of lives. “It pains me that you (Dhankhar) have chosen an unfortunate incident in Rampurhat to pass sweeping, uncalled for comments on law and order situation in the state,” her letter read.
The administration formed an SIT to probe the matter, she said that a TMC functionary was also killed by unknown miscreants. “… it is highly improper to make sweeping and uncalled for statement instead of paving the way for impartial investigation,” she said and requested the governor to refrain from making “unwarranted statements”.
The chief minister also alleged in the letter that Dhankhar had preferred to remain silent when “much more heinous incidents happened in BJP-ruled states and also in other parts of the country”.
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