This Article is From Jun 15, 2021

'Shocked, Fabricated': Bengal Government Slams Governor Over Letter Leak

Governor Jagdeep Dhankar's letter had criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her handling of the post-poll violence in Bengal in very strong terms.

In the letter to Mamata Banerjee, Jagdeep Dhankar had called the post-poll violence "state driven".

Kolkata:

Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar's unprecedented move to post a scathing letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Twitter, drew an angry reaction from her government on Tuesday. The letter had criticised the Chief Minister over her handling of the post-poll violence in the state in very strong terms. In a series of tweets, the state home department said the abrupt, unilateral release of letter to the public is "shocking" and called its contents fabricated.

"The communication format is violative of all established norms.  The letter has been written to Hon'ble Chief Minister & released to public media through tweets simultaneously, which disrupts sanctity of such communications," one of the tweets read.

The state government said the post-poll violence was "somewhat unabated" when the Election Commission was in charge of law and order. The cabinet restored order once the path ceremony was over, it said.

The police have been "firmly directed" to take action against all anti-socials and the government "remains committed to maintain the basic fabric of society and to uphold law and order", read another tweet.

After taking oath, Ms Banerjee had said that after Covid, law and order was her priority and had personally tackled the situation.

The Governor -- whose friction with the Chief Minister have been regular and public over the last years -- had tweeted a copy of his letter to the Chief Minister earlier on Tuesday.

Accusing her of maintaining "continued silence and inaction" over post-poll "retributive bloodshed, violation of human rights, outrageous assault on dignity of women, wanton destruction of property, perpetuation of untold miseries on political opponents", he said it was the "worst since Independence" and "augurs ill" for democracy.

"Your studied silence, coupled with absence of any steps to engage in rehabilitation and compensation to alleviate the unimaginable suffering of people, force an inevitable conclusion that all this is state driven," read another stinging passage.

The BJP has alleged that after Trinamool Congress's sweeping victory in the state, its goons killed BJP workers, attacked women members, vandalised houses, looted shops belonging to party members and ransacked its offices.

Since the results were declared, the party had kept the focus resolutely on the post-poll violence, seeking reports from the Governor, organising stock-taking missions by the party chief JP Nadda, held a series of review meetings.

In one of the meetings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by the party leader Suvendu Adhikari in Delhi.

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