JOIN USTMC govt turned West Bengal into police state, will act if Constitution not followed: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday said he would have no option but to “look at” Article 154 of Constitution as the state government had been ignoring him for a long time.
Speaking to reporters at Raj Bhavan, he alleged that the state government has turned Bengal into a “police state".
“The office of the Governor has been ignored for a long time. I have to act if the Constitution is not followed. I will be forced to look at Article 154 (under which the power of the state shall be vested in the governor),” said Dhankhar.
Lashing out DGP Virendra, the governor accused him of acting in an “irresponsible manner” with regard to his response to a recent letter by him (Dhankhar).
He further alleged that police was acting in a politically motivated manner and were behaving like TMC cadres.
Dhankhar alleged that due to the "increasing electronic surveillance” by the state government, he was forced to make all kinds of communications through WhatsApp voice calls.
“West Bengal has become a police state. Police state and democracy cannot coexist. Law and order have totally collapsed in Bengal. Not only terror modules are functioning from Bengal but Maoist insurgency is also raising its head in the state,” said Dhankhar.
Earlier in the day, Dhankhar in a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accused her of defending the DGP and said he was “neither a ‘post office’ nor a ‘rubber stamp’.”
“Surely you have found it convenient to sidetrack and skirt all the issues flagged to the DGP, leaving no doubt that the alarming law and order situation and deeply ‘politicised’ stance of police are undefendable… I urge you to take to Constitutional stance and urgently initiate steps to contain the slide into lawlessness,” said Dhankhar.