KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she had blocked governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter to protest against his “unconstitutional and unethical acts”, which were encouraging “BJP goondas” to kill Trinamool workers.
Banerjee apologised for her act but said she had been forced into doing this. “His acts are instigating BJP goondas to kill our workers,” the CM said, referring to the killing of a Trinamool leader near Barrackpore on Saturday, and accusing the governor of snooping on her government using “Pegasus”.
“Pegasus is being run from Raj Bhavan. We have an all-India Pegasus there (Delhi).... Everyone’s phone is being tapped here,” Banerjee said. “We have Pegasus in Delhi, here we have a super-paharadar (super-security guard) in Bengal,” she added, alleging that Dhankhar was using Raj Bhavan to “snoop on Bengal and tap phones”.
The CM’s diatribe against the governor came a few hours after senior Trinamool MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay approached President Ram Nath Kovind on the floor of the House in Delhi with a request to “remove Dhankhar”. Bengal Congress chief and Behrampore MP Adhir Chowdhury later said he agreed with the Trinamool Congress demand.
Dhankhar responded within a couple of hours. “Mandated under Article 159 of the Constitution to ensure none in the state ‘blocks’ Constitutional Norms and Rules of Law and those in authority, bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India,” he tweeted.
Banerjee accused the governor of “repeatedly” blocking the functioning of her government, which had been “democratically elected”. “He has even sent us questions on Maa Canteen, which provides egg meals to people at a subsidised rate. Have we ever asked him what food he orders from five-star hotels every day?” she asked. “We have all the bills, don’t force us to reveal them,” she said, accusing Dhankhar of “constantly threatening her government and its officials”.
Monday’s double strike — Banerjee’s attack in Kolkata and her party MP’s action in Delhi — came a day after Trinamool minister Jyotipriya Mullick accused the governor of sharing a dais with BJP MP Arjun Singh, “a professional killer”, on Gandhiji’s death anniversary. And the Trinamool minister’s comment followed a day after local Trinamool leader Gopal Majumdar’s killing in Barrackpore on Saturday. Singh is the BJP MP from Barrackpore. Cops on Sunday arrested a BJP leader for the murder. The BJP has blamed “Trinamool internal feuds” for the death.
