The slanging match between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (State secretariat) hit a new low with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday shooting off a strongly worded letter to Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar reminding him of his constitutional limitations as a “nominated” functionary and advising him to be careful with selection of words while dealing with a constitutional office as high as the one she occupies.
With the Governor repeatedly pulling the Government up for its alleged lackadaisical handling of the deteriorating corona situation in the State the Chief Minister wrote a five-page letter to the Governor wondering whether he had forgotten his constitutional limitations as a nominated entity.
In an exceptionally harsh letter she wrote, “You appear to have forgotten that I am an elected Chief Minister of a proud Indian state. You also seem to have forgotten that you are a nominated Governor.”
In the letter she reminded him of how he had “humiliated” her office by using un-parliamentary words. She said that though Governor might ignore the advice of the Chief Minister, her Cabinet and high officials but he should, as a minimum, honor the recommendations of Sarkaria Commission and look up to the sayings of Dr BR Ambedkar.
The Chief Minister’s harsh letter comes a day after the State Government had to digest a strongly worded communiqué from the Union Home Ministry directing it to cooperate with the Inter Ministerial Central Team visiting Bengal to inspect the corona situation.
After initially being blockaded by the State government the team was finally allowed to move around and inspect the alleged dilution of lockdown protocols.
Earlier when the Chief Minister was asked to comment on the tweets of the Governor she said “He is a tall man. We are small people. The less said about him the better.”
The Chief Minister also referred to how the Governor sent an objectionable text message transgressing the “constitutional dharma and even basic norms of decency.”
With no love lost between the two sides the new wave of conflict started after the Governor took to the twitter alleging how the lockdown protocols were being violated and diluted in the State and accusing the government of not briefing him about the current situation.
The flow of his tweets increased after the BJP leadership lodged a complaint with him against the State administration saying how the saffron MPs like Arjun Singh, Raju Bishta and Subhas Sarkar had been stopped from taking relief materials to the starving people of their constituencies.
On one occasion he wrote, “sent communication to Mamata Banerjee official to abide by constitution. Such continued disregard of constitution cannot be countenanced. There can be no situation of law unto oneself. Her stance is weakening the fight against covid-19. There is no rationale for such undemocratic attitude (sic)’.”"
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister continued to personally drive down parts of Kolkata for the third consecutive day on Thursday asking people over loudspeakers to remain indoors and follow the lockdown protocols. She visited Park Circus, Moulali, Behala and other areas telling people to maintain social distance and remain indoors.
The visiting IMCT too went about inspecting several of Kolkata on Thursday. It was accompanied by a senior official of the Health Department sources said adding the team visited the New Town corona centre and MR Bangur Hospital.