The brief Kali Puja bonhomie between Jagdeep Dhankhar and Mamata Banerjee tended to start with Bengal Governor’s visit to the Chief Minister’s residence on Sunday night to witness Kali Puja — leaving aside the serial run-ins with the Trinamool Congress leadership — ended with a jolt on Monday as he assured a BJP delegation of action on a host of issues apparently against the State Government.
Senior State Minister and TMC general secretary Partho Chatterjee slammed Raj Bhavan for interfering in subjudice matters despite being a senior advocate of the Supreme Court.
The Governor, who earlier received a delegation of right wing intellectuals at Raj Bhavan, assured them of action on a host of issues including the Jiaganj triple murder case and the “undue arrest” (without warrant) of a journalist turned Congress leader Sanmay Banerjee.
“His (Governor) ways are bizarre and undemocratic devoid of federal norms,” Chatterjee said wondering “how being a senior advocate of the Supreme Court he can interfere in subjudice matters. This has really pained me.”
Earlier on the day, the Governor met a delegation of the Bengal Intellectual Society, the BJP’s intelligentsia wing led by fashion designer Agnimitra Paul.
“We have appealed to him to look into the Jiaganj triple murder case in which a family of a school teacher was brutally murdered just after Durga Pujas. We have told him how the police are trying to suppress facts in the case and demanded CBI investigation into the murders,” Paul said adding the delegation also brought to his notice “the recent of a journalist Sanmay Banerjee by the police for writing against the State Government. He was arrested and tortured for whole night before he was released on bail.”
The Governor assured the team of appropriate action after looking into the matter she said. Soon after the TMC leadership exploded wondering “how a Governor can interfere in subjudice matters.”
Incidentally there was a brief cooling down of embers with Dhankhar on Sunday late evening visiting the Chief Minister’s house where he witnessed Kali Puja for two hours, exchanged pleasantries with Banerjee’s sister in-laws, other relatives and senior TMC leaders.
After visiting the Chief Minister’s house the Governor said, “We felt very blessed that we could see a puja that is operational since 1978... She offered us sweets, very good sweets, that were homemade. And they were not of sugar, but of molasses. So my wife loved them, I loved them. And while we were coming out, the Chief Minister had sent more sweets.”
The Governor also said he has asked for a CD of songs composed by Banerjee which were being played in the puja premises.
Dhankhar had earlier written to the Chief Minister a few days ago that he wanted to visit her house on October 29 on the occasion of “Bhai Dooj” (Brothers' Day). Subsequently Banerjee, invited the Governor and his wife to her residence for Kali Puja.
Meanwhile, the BJP called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh of Arambagh sub-division in Hooghly district following the murder of a local BJP leader Amir Aki Khan after violent clashes erupted between the two parties following the murder.
Senior State leader Sayantan Banerjee on Monday warned “the people are so agitated that if the Government does not arrest the real masterminds then their houses will be shattered and something bad will happen to them.”
Khan was stabbed to death in broad daylight following which four TMC workers were arrested. Following subsequent vandalisms two BJP men were arrested too.