Bengal bureaucrats turned into puppets of ruling party: Governor

Kolkata, July 13

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the state government and said the bureaucrats have turned into puppets of the ruling party.

Although the spat between the Governor and the Mamata Banerjee government is nothing new, this is the first time that Dhankhar has launched such a direct attack against the bureaucrats. He also said that it was high time that intellectuals and members of the civil society came out and protested against the existing bureaucratic and administrative setup of the state government.

"The bureaucrats have become puppets in the hands of the state's ruling party. There is no space for the opposition voice in the state. Unless we work hard this system will never change. I am saddened by the silence of the state's intellectuals and members of the civil society. My question to them is that can appeasement be allowed in the bureaucratic system. This is actually against the basic essence of democracy," Dhankhar said after landing at Bagdogra Airport in North Bengal on Wednesday afternoon. Thereafter he left for the hills in Darjeeling.

According to him, often the media remains silent under pressure about the functional flaws in the system. "We have heard of tall talks of investments in the state for the past three years. But in reality, no such investment has materialised as yet. Unless we open up against the system the future generation will never forgive us," the Governor said. He added that he was determined to change this system.

Reacting to the Governor, Trinamool Congress secretary general and the state commerce & industries minister Partha Chatterjee said, "The governor has only two tasks now, which are unnecessarily criticising the state government and issuing Twitter messages. If he behaves like a representative of a party, he will lose his respect as the Governor of the state."

West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee too criticised the Governor. "The Governor House is losing its honour because of the biased behaviour of the current Governor. Even we are saddened by the manner he is using the Governor House," Banerjee said.

Jagdeep Dhankhar. (File Photo: IANS)