‘Nothing But Absolute Nuisance’: Meghalaya Guv Tathagata Roy
SHILLONG/NEW DELHI : : Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy on Monday described the Shaheen Bagh protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as “nothing but absolute nuisance”.
“For the last 50 days they are carrying on some nautanki (drama). Despicable,” he said at the Kolkata Book Fair today, adding to the barrage of criticism and hate speech against the protesters.
“People are sitting at a public place for one-and-a-half months, causing great inconvenience to people to carry on their daily activities,” he said. Roy said his West Bengal counterpart Jagdeep Dhankar is being shown “despicable behaviour” by the ruling Trinamool Congress, which has taken the state-governor relation to an unprecedented low.
Roy, who was talking to reporters at the Viswa Hindu Parishad stall at 44th Kolkata International Book Fair, said it was “shameful” for a state if its governor, who is also chancellor of state universities, is prevented from attending the convocation Calcutta University and no high ranked official intervenes when his car is stopped.
Roy, who has also been the governor of Tripura in the past, said he believed that there was provocation by the TMC government. “I have never witnessed such despicable behaviour towards a governor. I could have never imagined that an elected government can stoop so low. No words are enough to condemn such behaviour. It has taken the state-governor relation to an unprecedented low,” the Meghalaya governor said.
To another question about West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s comments that CAA if implemented will have serious consequences in the country, Roy first declined to comment on a political issue and then said “If she has indeed made such a comment, then that is unfortunate.”
Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had tagged the protests as “anarchy” and sought Delhi’s mandate to stop it. “If their game plan is not stopped, they will block another road or gully tomorrow. We can’t let them spread anarchy. Your vote has the power to put a stop to this,” he said at an election rally in Delhi.
The nearly two-month long women’s protest at Shaheen Bagh — which headlined across the world – has fuelled similar protests in many cities across the country. But the protesting women have been facing mounting criticism, hate speeches and even armed men.
Over the last week, key BJP leaders – a union minister and a chief minister – have spoken of using bullets to deal with “traitors” and “terrorists”. Union Minister Anurag Thakur was caught on camera at a rally in northwest Delhi, egging on a crowd to chant a slogan that calls for gunning down “traitors”.
Accusing Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of “supplying biryani to those protesting in Shaheen Bagh and elsewhere in the city,” Yogi Adityanath said since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister, “We have been identifying every terrorist and feeding them goli (bullets) instead of biryani”.
BJP MP Parvesh Verma had said the protesters would “enter your houses, rape your sisters and daughters, kill them”. Last week, a man was caught firing in the air at Shaheen Bagh, standing near the police barricades and shouting “Jai Shri Ram” . While being taken away by the police, he was heard saying, “Humare desh mein sirf Hinduon ki chalegi aur kisi ki nahi (in our country only Hindus will prevail).”
