WEST Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar will undertake on Thursday his proposed visit to areas affected by unprecedented post-election violence even as the rulingTrinamool Congress (TMC) criticised him for such a step which it described as“unbecoming of Governor”. Unmindful of the criticism, Governor Dhankhar has also planned visit to camps of West Bengal people who fled to the neighbouring Assam to escape from the mob fury back home in their respective places. Dhankhar will travel to Assam on Friday after his visit to postpoll violence affected areas in Cooch Behar on Thursday. He will visit“Ranpagli and Srirampur camps in Assam where due to post-poll retributive violence @MamataOfficial some people of WB had taken refuge for safety,”, he said in a tweet. Ranpagli is in Dhubri district and Srirampur is in Kokrajhar district of Assam. Both districts are adjacent to West Bengal. Even though the TMC questioned the propriety of the Governor’s visit in such a manner, sources in New Delhi and Kolkata assert that Governors of other States have undertaken such missions when the situation demanded.

 

They cite various constitutional provisions to prove that the Governor, as constitutional head of the State, has allthe authority to take up such causes and also the responsibility ofmonitoring the well being of the common people . The Governoriswithinhis constitutional right to establish a direct connect with the people, sources indicate . Yet, the ruling party has taken a hard stance on the Governor’s proposed visit. TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay told reporters here that he did not know ifaGovernor can conduct himself in such a way. No matter the opposition from the ruling party, the State is slated to witness a very acrimonious political battles over the manner in which Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee has positioned herself at the start of her third ter m inoffice--eventhoughshe needs to return to the Legislative Assembly throughaby-electionwithin six months as she lost her electoral battle to Bharatiya Janata Party’ s Suvendu Adhikari i n Nandigram.

 

The BJP has geared up foralongbattleahead,first by electing Suvendu Adhikari as its legislatur e party leader, and then arranging for a central security for elected memberson“generalthreatperception”. The battle also has gone to theCalcutta HighCour t which is hearing a public interestlitigation(PIL)filed by lawyer-petitioner Anindya Sundar Das, wh o raisedthe issueofviolence taking place in various parts of the State after the State Assembly elections in which the Trinamool Congress trounced BJP. Dhankhar, who had been expressing concer n aboutpost-pollviolencein Bengal in his tweets since May 3, the day after the declaration of the poll result,hadsaidonTuesday that he would visit areas affected by post-poll violence in Cooch Behar district on Thursday, May 13. “Governor will be leaving Kolkata by BSF Helicopter on May 13 t o visit post poll unprecedented violence affected areas @MamataOfficial #Sitalkuchi and other places in Coochbehar to connectwithsufferers,”he tweeted.

 

State Minister RabindranathGhosh,who hailsfromthenorthBengal di strict, said,“Dhankharis coming to disrupt the peaceful situation in Coochbehar.” Countering TMC charges,BJPspokesperso n Samik Bhattacharya wonderedwhytheTMCshould object if the Governor visits a place rocked by political violence and he wants to be on the side of the affected people . “They (TMC) have got the mandate of people . Then why are they upset if the Governor of the State wants to met the people? Are the injured and affectedinpolitical violencenot residents of Bengal?” he asked. Dhankhar had also said that despite asking the StateGovernmenttomake arrangements for his visit, therewasnoresponsefrom the administration.