West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she had blocked State Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on social media platform Twitter.
The Chief Minister told presspersons at the State Secretariat that she has been forced to take the decision because the Governor was issuing tweets everyday targeting her and officials of the State government to work as per his “instructions”.
“I have been forced to block Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter. I am sorry for this. Every day he was issuing tweets targeting and threatening me and other government officials as if we are his bonded labourers,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The development marks a new low in relations between the Chief Minister and the Governor. The war of words between Raj Bhawan, the State Secretariat and the ruling Trinamool Congress has been making headlines for quite some time.
Reacting to the developments, Governor Dhankhar said it was “mandated under Article 159 of the Constitution to ensure no one in the State “blocks” Constitutional Norms and Rules of Law and those in authority “bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India”.
Mr. Dhankhar shared on Twitter the details of Article 159 of the Constitution with the title “Oath or affirmation by the Governor”.
“Under Article 167 it is Constitution, “duty” of the Chief Minister to furnish such information relating to the administration of the affairs of the State and proposals for legislation as the Governor may call for. Why “block” information to Guv [Governor] now for two years,” Mr. Dhankhar said on Twitter. The Governor shared on social media screen shots about Article 167 and Article 159 of the Constitution.
The Chief Minister said she has written four letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to withdraw the Governor from the State. “I will still appeal for the same,” she said.
The Chief Minister stressed that interfering in the policy decisions of an elected government is not the work of the Governor and said the Governor is seeking details of subsidised meals provided to the people through State government run “Maa” canteens.
“We have been tolerating this for the past one and a half years. He has blocked every Bill. Even the appointments of State’s Human Rights Commission Chairperson and members of the Information Commission is pending,” she said.
She went on to accuse the Governor that with his “direct support”, some BJP leaders were indulging in violence in the State. The Trinamool Congress chairperson alleged that the Governor was tapping phones of State government officials using “Pegasus” spyware.
“Pegasus is being operated from Raj Bhawan. There is an all-India Pegasus... and from Raj Bhawan, phones are being tapped,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee said that despite not being consulted about the appointment of Governor, she had extended all courtesies but now “enough is enough”.
“In future, I will not take any decision. The State Assembly and Parliament will take a decision on that,” she said. During the day, Trinamool Congress Leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Banerjee said he had urged President Ram Nath Kovind to withdraw Governor from the State.
