West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday took “strong exception” to Kolkata mayor and state minister Firhad Hakim’s remark asking him “not to be worried about any possible violence in the upcoming polls since law and order is a state issue”.

Hakim added: “If as a person he feels deeply about crimes against human beings then he should feel pained at the recent Delhi riots which took several human lives while more dead bodies might be recovered. The state government has held a meeting for maintaining law and order during the civic polls.”

In a statement, the Raj Bhavan said the minister’s approach “with respect to the role of governor of the state, to say the least, betrays elementary ignorance both of the Constitution and the role of the governor”. Such statements “contrary to constitutional essence and spirit does not promote synergy between the constitutional head and the state government”, it added. The governor’s office said Dhankhar had talked to the state poll commissioner about ensuring the upcoming municipal elections are violence free.