NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA:  Left parties slammed the Governor for allegedly acting like a BJP mouthpiece and condemned his “partisan” role.”He is not a man of the BJP but his function is tantamount to be a man of BJP. This cannot be the role of a governor. He is identifying himself as a man of BJP. This is not right. This cannot be the role of a governor, particularly in West Bengal,” Biman Bose, Left Front chairman, said today.As Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar holds a series of meetings in Delhi amid clashes with the Mamata Banerjee government, his controversial role and comments have landed the Left on the same side as rival Trinamool Congress. A top Left leader has echoed the Trinamool’s criticism of Mr Dhankhar, who has been locked in a long-running feud with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over claims and counter-claims on post-poll violence in Bengal.
The Trinamool Congress has accused Mr Dhankhar of overstepping his brief and caustically said he should not return to the state. Mr Dhankhar has not specified any reason for his four-day trip to the capital; he flew out a day after a delegation of BJP MLAs petitioned him on alleged deterioration of the law and order situation in the state.Before leaving on Tuesday evening, he wrote a letter to the Chief Minister accusing her of silence over violence in the state and “not taking steps to rehabilitate the suffering people”.He shared the letter on Twitter, after which the state government accused him of violating established norms.
On Thursday, the Governor said he met Union ministers Prahlad Joshi and Prahlad Singh Patel. He also called on the National Human Rights Commission. He has talked about meeting Home Minister Amit Shah. “We have never seen such a governor who has no regard for the Constitution and its norms. He has been violating every constitutional norm. According to our Constitution, the governor is supposed to act as per the instructions of the council of ministers headed by the chief minister. But he doesn’t follow any such norm and acts as per his whims and fancies,” said Sougata Ray, senior Trinamool Congress leader.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Wednesday that the way the Centre was intervening in the affairs of the state wasn’t right and governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was identifying himself as a man of the BJP. “The Centre-state relationship has become important for us. The way the Centre is intervening in affairs of the state and the state government isn’t right. This includes the role of the governor…What he is doing isn’t right either…,” Bose said at a news conference.
He added 16 Left parties would meet and decide how to protest against the actions by the Centre and the governor. Asked to elaborate on what the Front found objectionable in the governor’s actions, Bose referred to Dhankhar meeting 50 BJP MLAs on Monday. He said a governor had never held a meeting with the representatives of a particular political party on the portico of the Raj Bhavan. “The governor is identifying himself as a BJP man,” Bose added.
The Left Front leader also sided with Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra and slammed the Centre for allegedly muzzling his voice at a crucial meeting of the GST council, which discussed the contentious issue of slashing tax on Covid-19 related products. Referring to the meeting, Bose said the Front would raise the issue of waiving GST on Covid-19 related products. “We also want to add that the GST imposed on drugs and essential items related to Covid victims’ treatment must be waived off. The state finance minister had correctly placed the matter at the GST council meeting,” said Bose.

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