Cooch Behar (WB), May 13: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday shown black flags at Sitalkuchi, where four villagers died after firing by central forces during the elections, while “go back” slogans were raised at Dinhata during his visit to Cooch Behar district to meet people allegedly affected in post poll violence.
Earlier in the day, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar who is on a controversial visit to assess post-poll violence in the district said he was shocked by incidents of attacks following the West Bengal assembly elections.
“The country is facing a COVID crisis, and West Bengal is facing twin challenges of the pandemic and unprecedented post-poll violence only (as) some people decided to vote as per their own choice,” he said.
The run up to the visit was marked by a war of words between the Governor and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with the chief minister writing a letter on Wednesday claiming the visit violated established norms as it was being undertaken unilaterally without consultations with the state government.
She also claimed the Governor was by-passing the state council of ministers and dictating directly to state officials, which was violative of the constitution.
An agitated Dhankhar came out of his car at Dinhata and reprimanded police officials for allegedly not acting to prevent slogan-shouting protesters, who numbered around 15 and had assembled with posters saying “BJP’s governor go back”.
“I am shocked, this is total collapse of rule of law, I could never imagine such a thing could happen,” he told reporters. Police officials chased the protesters away from the spot.
“I have seen fear in the eyes of people and they are afraid to go to the police station to file complaints,” Dhankhar said about his interaction with people in post-poll hit villages.
The Governor visited Mathabhanga, Sitalkuchi, Sitai and Dinhata and talked to people who claimed to have suffered attacks at the hands of ruling Trinamool Congress supporters after election results were announced on May 2. (PTI)
