Kolkata, (Samajweekly) West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Monday that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government has turned Bengal into a police state, saying police state and democracy do not go hand in hand.
“Law and order has collapsed in Bengal, and Maoist insurgency is raising its head. Terror modules are also operating from this state,” Dhankhar told a press conference here.
He also said that police personnel are working as ‘cadres’ of the ruling Trinamool Congress government.
Referring to Article 154 of the Constitution that mandates executive power of the state to be vested in the Governor, Dhankhar said that he would be forced to look at it as his office has been ignored for long by the ruling dispensation.
“I have to act if the Constitution is not protected. The office of the Governor has been ignored for long. I will be forced to look at Article 154 of the Constitution,” he said.
In a letter to the Governor dated September 26, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had reportedly urged him to “act within the mandates of the Constitution”, expressing anguish over his letter to the Director General of Police (DGP).
The Chief Minister and the Governor have been at loggerheads in the past on various issues.
