Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar meets Home Minister Amit Shah, TMC says don't come back

Dhankhar briefed Shah about the law and order situation in West Bengal

On a four-day visit to Delhi amid a row with the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday met Home Minister Amit Shah, a move that evoked sharp reactions from TMC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who said she had written to the Centre thrice to recall the Governor.

Dhankhar, who on Thursday briefed Shah about the law and order situation in the state in wake of the allegations of post-poll violence in the state, had also met Union ministers Prahlad Joshi and Prahlad Singh Patel on Wednesday. Dhankhar also met President Ram Nath Kovind during the visit.

After Dhankhar meeting Shah, the first one between the two after Banerjee was sworn in as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third time in the first week of May, the home minister's office tweeted a picture of their meeting saying "the Governor of West Bengal, Shri @jdhankhar1 met Union Home Minister Shri @AmitShah".

It is learnt that the Governor briefed the home minister about the prevailing law and order situation in West Bengal.

Banerjee hit out at Dhankar calling him a "Centre's man" and recalling that she has thrice written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw him from the state. She noted that a child can be cajoled into silence but not an elderly man, noting that she has thrice written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw him from the state.

Read more: Have written thrice to PM to withdraw Dhankhar as governor, says Mamata

"What can I say? A child can be cajoled into silence. In this case, speech is silver; silence is golden," she said. Banerjee also rued that while the state government is consulted when a governor is appointed, this was not done in this case.

Interestingly Dhankhar also met Banerjee's vocal critic in Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha and shared a picture of a free-wheeling discussion between the two.

"While in Delhi today I had over a cup of coffee with @adhirrcinc Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and the Member of Parliament from Berhampur," he said. Dhankhar " spent time with an old friend, Speaker Om Birla" besides having a "courtesy meeting" with former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Arun Kumar Mishra, Chairperson National Human Rights Commission.

TMC condemned the move with its MP, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy saying, "His act is condemnable and today he proved that he is a BJP agent. I don’t remember any BJP leader or minister meeting the NHRC chief in the recent past. But our Governor rushed to meet him. He is doing it to appease the BJP leaders. This only shows that he is not only crossing all limits but also acting against the Indian constitution."

Read more: Dhankhar violating constitutional norms, should not return to Bengal: TMC

Before starting his visit to the national capital on Tuesday, Dhankar had shared a letter on Twitter that he had written to Banerjee in which the Governor had accused the Chief Minister of remaining "silent" over the post-poll violence in the state. On Monday, a delegation of BJP MLAs in Kolkata had given him a petition on the alleged deterioration of law and order in the state.

"Constrained to convey @MamataOfficial that continued silence & inaction over post-poll violence, violation of human rights & dignity of women, destruction of property, the perpetuation of miseries on political opponents- worst since independence, ill augurs for democracy," Dhankhar had tweeted.

Ever since Dhankhar was made Governor of West Bengal in July 2019, the relationship between her and Banerjee has been far from being cordial and both have frequently hit out at each other.

A day after Dhankhar landed in Delhi, the TMC had on Wednesday launched an attack on him alleging the Governor was violating constitutional norms and requested him not to return to the state. Even Mamata's arch-rival, CPI-M has slammed the Governor for his alleged partisan role.

BJP has expectedly backed Dhankhar and hit out at Trinamool Congress, asking it to "respect the Constitutional posts".

Dhankhar has meanwhile been tweeting about his "useful interaction and deliberations" with Union ministers on various issues.

"We have never seen such a governor who has no regard for the Constitution and its norms. He has been violating every constitutional norm," said TMC MP Saugata Roy.

TMC's Lok Sabha's MP Mahua Moitra was acerbic in her tweet saying "Uncle Ji going to Delhi on June 15th he says... Do us a favour WB Governor Sahib - don't come back".