Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday, accusing him of trying to "usurp powers" amid the Coronavirus crisis, and asked him to desist from using official communications and logos on social media.
Banerjee's sharp rebuttal came after the Governor shot off two letters to the Chief Minister last week amid the clash between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna, the state Secretariat, in the wake of Bengal's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"Such words and such communications of such content, tenor and tone from a Governor to an elected CM are unprecedented in the annals of Indian constitutional and political history. Your words against me and my ministers and officers can be described as vituperative, intemperate, intimidating and abusive," Banerjee said in her 14-page reply to Dhankhar.
"In a nutshell... if you do not agree with my government... you may politely bring your grievance to my attention... if it still not resolved to your satisfaction, there is, unfortunately, no other power in you, so long as my government commands the confidence of the legislature," she said, accusing him of preaching and sermonising constitutional norms "without practising it and violating it".
"I beseech you to desist from intensifying your efforts to usurp powers, especially at the time of crisis.... You should desist from using official communications/logos for your continuous tweets on social media," the Chief Minister said.
Continuing her attack on Dhankhar for using such words not only for her but also for her Cabinet colleagues and officers since assuming his "exalted office", Banerjee maintained that "...I would challenge anyone, repeat anyone, to produce such correspondence and such oral statements from any Governor to any Chief Minister in any part of India at any point of time since our constitution came into force in 1950."
Stating that the words used by the Governor in his letters since assuming office in Bengal as "words of respect and affection" (sarcastically of course), the Chief Minister has stated that she feels sadder than angry reading the same. "Thank God there is huge inbuilt irony and hence humour in your words. But respected Governor, preaching without practice and sermonising while violating, does not behave you or your office," Banerjee maintained after stating in the letter that it is the Governor who first used such words. She even quoted "such words" of the Governor in the letter.
Banerjee stated that the representatives of the people including Chief Ministers "have manifold obligations and diverse functions in a democracy" that is vastly different in content, contours and effect, from those possessed by nominated personages.
Dhankhar later tweeted: "While I find no substance in her version, both in fact and law, I appreciate her stance 'for full cooperation with State Government'."