Dhankhar trying to malign Bengal people for electing TMC, should be removed: Mukul Roy

KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday claimed that West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who visited New Delhi for five days, has been trying to malign the people of the state on the post-poll violence issue for electing the Mamata Banerjee-led party, and demanded that he should be removed from his post.

TMC chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, also alleged that it is a deep-rooted political conspiracy that Dhankhar is exaggerating "stray incidents" as post-poll violence and meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other central leaders in Delhi.

The governor went to Delhi on Tuesday, a day after a delegation of BJP MLAs petitioned him on alleged deterioration of the law and order situation in the state.

Dhankhar met Shah twice, on Thursday and on Saturday.

During the first meeting, he is believed to have briefed the home minister about the law and order situation in the state.

"The governor has been making rounds in Delhi durbar of Shah. This is his effort to malign the state and its people who have elected Mamata Banerjee," Roy told reporters.

After its claim of winning over 200 seats fell flat, the BJP is busy hatching a conspiracy and the governor is acting as the microphone of the saffron camp, he alleged.

The BJP had claimed that it will win over 200 seats in the West Bengal assembly election but managed to get 77.

Two of these elected leaders, who were also MPs, resigned later, while another, Mukul Roy, returned to the TMC, his old party.

"We demand the removal of the governor from the post. We think his five-day stay in the national capital is part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt the situation in West Bengal when the state government is fighting Covid-19 and rehabilitating people affected by natural calamities," the Rajya Sabha MP said.

The governor had earlier stated that he will embark on a four-day visit to Delhi.

However, he postponed the departure from Delhi till Saturday and met Shah for a second time.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, on the other hand, claimed that the TMC is humiliating the governor for rushing to the aid of the people who had to flee their homes due to attacks by the ruling party after the poll results are out on May 2.

"The state administration has taken no action. Now, if the governor goes to Delhi to highlight the issue, why should the TMC object?" he said.

Roy alleged that statutory bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and the national commission for SC, ST and backward castes are being used to harass the elected government of West Bengal and build a false narrative that people are not safe in the state.

On the demand of a BJP MP for carving out a union territory comprising districts of north Bengal, the TMC leader wondered whether the saffron party would support it if there is a similar demand for Gujarat.

"This is nothing but a divisive ploy of the BJP after being summarily rejected by people of West Bengal," he said.