West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday continued to criticise the Trinamool Congress government and claimed that Mamata Banerjee was running a police state, and that he was concerned about free and fair Assembly elections next year. His statement came after meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi and drew sharp rebukes from all opposition parties.

“I have witnessed a continual decline in democratic governance,” Dhankhar told reporters at the Banga Bhawan in Delhi, The Indian Express reported. “Political violence, vendetta is a daily affair. Targeted killings being seen very often. As the constitutional head, I have witnessed it. The greatest challenge is that the police and bureaucracy are being politicised. They are working as foot soldiers of the state government. I have time and again appealed to them that what you are doing is beyond your Constitutional rights…It has become a police state.”

He said that he met Shah to discuss the “status of democratic institutions and issues of public interest”. According to a tweet from Dhankhar’s account, the meeting lasted for more than an hour and “state of affairs and affairs of state in West Bengal” were discussed.

“People deserve democracy,” he added, according to NDTV. “I am committed to ensure free, fair and fearless voting. That is the minimum expectation people have. You are governing only through police apparatus and that is not permitted. A police station shall not be allowed to be a campaign office. This is the minimum I can do to vindicate the oath I have taken as governor.”

“I am not a stakeholder in politics. It is not my concern who gets elected. It is my concern how election takes place. It is my concern how governance takes place. If the governance is not in accordance with rule of law, then the governor is worried.” 

— West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

The governor said people have no idea about what was happening in West Bengal and that the law-and-order situation has “completely crumbled” as the police and bureaucrats were working as “political servants” of the Trinamool Congress. “The crime statistics have gone up and al-Qaeda is spreading its fangs in Murshidabad,” he claimed.

Politically motivated, says TMC

The Trinamool Congress rebuked the governor for playing politics, and said that he must first look at Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

“I have never come across a governor who enjoys staying in the limelight so much,” State Education Minister and TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said. “Before speaking about Bengal, he must first look at the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh and talk about it. He is demeaning the governor’s chair by playing a political role. He is saying that the police are playing a political role in the state. But is he not doing the same? He has no say in the conduct of an election.”

“The governor’s outburst is the outburst of a frustrated man,” TMC parliamentarian Sougata Roy said, adding that nobody take Dhankhar seriously. “He is trying to curry favour with the ruling party at the Centre so that after his governorship is over, he gets a political position.”

Another Trinamool MP, Kalyan Banerjee, called the governor “a loudspeaker” of the BJP. “Did he go to meet the Home Minister or did he go to meet his BJP leaders?” he asked.

  “He has done it around 99 times, so this must be chapter 100. Once again he went to Delhi with his garbage of lies. All across Bengal, the festive occasion was held peacefully. The joy of the festival was shared by crores of people in Bengal in harmony. He is a disgrace to Raj Bhavan.”  

— Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not yet reacted.

Congress, Left raise questions

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pradeep Bhattacharya said that the governor’s statement was not impartial. “Before submitting his report on the law-and-order situation of the state to the Union home minister, the governor should have held discussions with the state home secretary, chief secretary and even with the chief minister,” Bhattacharya said. “It is indeed a fact that there has been a severe deterioration of the law-and-order situation in the state. At the same time, I don’t know whether the Constitution allows the governor to speak on the law-and-order situation and to what extent. Even his views on this must be impartial.”

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Sujan Chakraborty agreed and said: “There is no law and order in the state, no denying the CM [chief minister] runs the state through police and IPAC. But there must be laxman rekhas [limits] for the governor. He cannot do press conferences and abuse the state just for publicity and political motives”.

CPI(M) leader Shamik Lahiri said Dhankhar had not maintained the dignity of the governor’s chair. “He is making political statements,” Lahiri said. “What TMC is doing in Bengal, the BJP is doing the same across the country. But he does not speak on such issues.”

BJP backs governor

The Bharatiya Janata Party, however, supported the governor and said that he has not said anything false.

“Has he said anything that is untrue?” state BJP vice-president Joy Prakash Majumdar asked. “The people of the state know what the truth is. The governor is the custodian of the Constitution when it comes to matters related to the state. Whatever he said is 100% true. There is no room for any controversy on this.”