Kolkata: The standoff between the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankar, and the Mamata Banerjee-led state government continues as the latter accused that he was sidelined and not shown on television during the Durga puja carnival hosted by the government on October 11, 2019 at the iconic Red Road in Kolkata.
Speaking to reporters at the National Library in Kolkata, Dhankar said, "I felt insulted at the carnival. I am deeply hurt and disturbed. The insult was not to me but to every people of West Bengal. They will never digest such as insult. I am a servant of the people of West Bengal. Nothing can deter me from performing my constitutional duties."
Live video footage of the carnival was reportedly given to media by the event organisers and according to Raj Bhawan sources, Dhankar was not shown anywhere in the coverage. There are also allegations that none of the television channels focused on him even once.
The Governor further said, “This is an unusual kind of censorship. How can you black out a person holding this position after inviting him? This is unheard of. Someone called me to tell that this is reminiscent of the emergency. Therefore, I urge the media, judge me harshly and as stringently as you wish to, but please judge others as well. For four hours, not for a single second, the first servant of yours was shown on the television. It has taken me three days to recover from this injury to the heart.”
TMC leader Tapas Roy termed his allegations as unfortunate and said that the Governor himself was demeaning his chair by making such incorrect statements. “There was a separate dais for him and due respect was given. I don’t know why he is saying all this now. It is very unfortunate that he compared the incident with the emergency.”
It was also learnt that the Governor was made to sit at a separate podium, which was adjacent to the main seating area where West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other celebrities were sitting.
“His seating arrangement was not proper considering his position. He was facing a lot of obstructions as people kept coming in front of his podium, causing difficulty for the Governor to have a clear view. During his four hour visit to the carnival, he was completely blacked out. No one showed his presence at the event,” sources at Raj Bhawan, the official residence of the Governor, said.
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