A political slugfest erupted between the Tramandal Congress and the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata after Governor CV Ananda Bose warned of legal actions against senior TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee for alleging that the former was supplying arms to BJP criminals from the Governor’s House.
In a prompt response, the Governor demanded an apology from the TMC MP or faced legal action and opened the Raj Bhavan, inviting the members from the public, particularly the civil society and the media to randomly visit the historic palace to check for themselves the presence of any weaponry.
To a previous statement which Bose said in reference to the Bihar elections, that elections should be based in Bengal, “on the ballot, not the bullet a transition which is required urgently in the state,” Banerjee advised the Governor not to provide shelter and arms to the BJP’s criminals kicking up a bigger storm.
“First, tell the governor not to shelter the BJP’s criminals in Raj Bhavan. He is keeping offenders there, giving them guns and bombs, and telling them to attack Trinamool workers. Let him stop this first,” the MP said calling Bose an “incompetent governor” who was acting like a “servant of the BJP.”
A day earlier, the same MP had attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “jungle raj” comment on Bengal saying that the Prime Minister had made India an undemocratic country. “He (Modi) has wrecked Indian democracy Hundreds of people are dying in the country. He won the Bihar elections as a consequence of the Red Fort blasts. He has created a ‘jungle raj’ himself in the entire country as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. He won elections by killing people… he established jungle raj in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and elsewhere whereas in Bengal, people are living in peace,” Banerjee said.
Soon after the Bihar elections, the Prime Minister on Friday had told, “Now I would like to assure the people of Bengal that, ‘Jungle Raj’ prevailing there will end in 2026 (Assembly elections)” prompting a counterattack from the TMC leadership.
Cut to Sunday. Governor Bose who earlier wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker drawing his attention to what Kalyan Banerjee had said, warned him of legal action if he would not apologise to the people of Bengal for what he had said.
Banerjee should prove what he had said or apologise, the Governor said, adding, “legal implications of this hate speech is being examined.”
The MP’s remark was undignified considering his status, the Governor said. He also wondered whether Banerjee’s remarks were constituted aspersions on the State police which was responsible for frisking the visitors are Raj Bhavan.
Senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha too attacked Banerjee for his “undignified” remark. “Already at loggerheads with most of the TMC leaders, Kalyan Banerjee is now trying to enter the good books of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by talking all that nonsense… people of Bengal will not take him seriously.”
