West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday told Union Home Minister Amit Shah that governance in the State was on the cliff edge.
“He [Mr. Dhankhar] found it expedient to discuss with the Home Minister alarming cliff edge governance situation in the State from the perspective of his constitutional obligations,” a press statement from Raj Bhawan said.
The statement quoted the Governor as saying “the governance in the State has been cause of concern and worry for about a year” and a “non responsive stance of the government is most unfortunate”.
The meeting comes at a time when the relations between the Governor and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have hit an all-time low. Last week, the Chief Minister went public against Mr. Dhankhar’s move to organise a virtual meeting of Vice Chancellors of State-run universities. Before meeting the Home Minister, the Governor said that under Article 159 of the Constitution it was “part of his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution”.
During the meeting, he spoke of the State government’s “distancing from constitutional prescriptions and rule of law in varied form” and added efforts from his “end to secure affirmative stance of the government have unfortunately not fructified”.
Mr. Dhankhar, during the hour-long meeting, raised the issue of “rampant corruption and nepotism in Amphan relief distribution” and “alarming COVID-19 situation in the State”.
“Worrisome and dangerously deteriorating law and order situation targeting political opponents and the highly partisan role of police was also discussed,” the statement from Raj Bhawan added.
