News Analysis India

Tag: Jagdeep Dhankhar

  • Governor asks Mamata government to bring white paper on investments attracted through business summit

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday called upon the Mamata Banerjee government to come out with a white paper on Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) with details of investments attracted by the state through those programmes.

    Expressing concern at the alleged lack of response from the then state finance minister on the information sought by him over a year ago on the actual investments that West Bengal has received as a result of five editions of BGBS, the governor alleged that ground reality belies the claims of their “resounding success”.

    The state government is preparing to hold another edition of BGBS in April 2022, after a hiatus of two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Call upon @MamataOfficial to come out with a WHITE PAPER #BGBS so that information is available in transparent and accountable manner,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    Asserting that the rule of law, respect for human rights and democratic values are imperative for investments, Dhankhar said much needs to be done on these fronts.

    “It is our obligation that we subscribe to sanctity of facts and not dictate actions by mere optics of advertisements and statements,” he said in the Twitter post.

    Dhankhar was requested by the West Bengal government to promote the state as an industrial destination and he has also agreed to travel overseas for the purpose, a senior official said on Monday.

    The Mamata Banerjee administration has been organising BGBS since 2015 to attract investments to the state.

    In a letter to the chief minister in August last year, the governor said he had sought information on the five editions of the BGBS first from the departmental secretary and then from the finance minister but did not get it.

    “Surely, their stance is far distanced from transparency in government and also not in consonance with your recent assertion that ‘Our government works with complete transparency and there are financial clearances and regular audit’,” he wrote in the letter dated August 25, 2020.

    Dhankhar wrote that he had sought details of investments and jobs created in the state owing to the investment proposals and those claimed to be under implementation.

    The then finance minister Amit Mitra had claimed that the state had received proposals worth over Rs 12.32 lakh crore at the business summits between 2015 and 2019 and had generated 28 lakh jobs.

    The chief minister had said in the Assembly last year that 50 per cent of the investment proposals that were received in the five editions of BGBS are already in the process of implementation.

    Opposition parties had also demanded publication of a white paper on the actual investment that came from the summit.

    The last business summit was held in February 2019.

    During that edition, Banerjee had announced that it would be a biennial affair.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday came down heavily on the BJP for “being busy in pinching” the TMC government and running down its acheivements but failing to get a single rupee allocated to the state.

    She said the common man in the state are being forced by BJP to face extreme hardship by the fuel price spiral which has turned its “achhe din promise to bure din”.

    “Some people (in BJP) are busy in piching the TMC government and running down its acheivements from morning to evening. But they fail to get a single rupee allocated to the state from Delhi. They do not have the power to help the people of the state. All they know is to be on the attack mode against us, to find fault with us,” said Banerjee while inaugurating a Jagaddhatri Puja in Posta area of city which is the hub of wholesale business.

    “Such attacks did not happen in the past when constitutional posts used to be respected and none would speak against each other in this way. I know how it was in the past having being an MP for several terms,” she said.

    Continuing her tirade against the BJP-led government at the Centre, she said it has put the common man in dire straits by demonitisation five years ago and now the fuel price hike, which fetched it Rs 4 lakh crore.

    “It has hurt the aam admi hard. The achhe din promise by Narendra Modi has turned out to be bure din,” she added.

    The chief minister urged the traders to make minimum profit from the sale of essentials and vegetables for one year in the interest of the general public.

    “Please don’t charge too much price for vegetables. I know you are all hard hit by the fuel price spiral, but still try to ensure that vegetable prices is contained as much as possible,” she told Posta Merchants Association, the organisers of the puja.

    The chief minister iterated her government plans to organize business meets, music meets, film festival and support other festivals and fairs in the coming months.

  • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee accuses Governor of creating rift between Speaker, his deputy

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Targeting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar without naming him, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday nobody should try to create a rift between the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, calling such an attempt “unacceptable and unfair”.

    Her comments came in the backdrop of the recent controversy over Dhankhar asking Deputy Speaker Ashis Banerjee, instead of Speaker Biman Banerjee, to administer the oath to the four newly elected TMC MLAs.

    Banerjee said that everybody should respect the Speaker’s chair and not undermine it. “I don’t want to name anyone but no one should try to demean the Speaker’s chair. The Speaker’s chair is the biggest constitutional post in the assembly. If someone tries to create a rift between the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, then it is unacceptable and unfair,” she told the state assembly.

    After Dhankhar authorised the Deputy Speaker, Parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee wrote to the governor requesting him to allow Speaker Biman Banerjee to administer the oath. Dhankhar agreed and Biman Banerjee administered the oath to Subrata Mandal, Braj Kishore Goswami, Udayan Guha and state minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay on Tuesday.

    “The attitude that I alone will do everything and others will sit idle is not right. We need to change this attitude,” the TMC supremo said.

  • Mamata Banerjee, two other newly-elected TMC MLAs to take oath on October 7 

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said he will administer the oath to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a member of the state assembly on October 7.

    Banerjee won the Bhabanipur by-poll with a record margin of 58,835 votes.

    She needed to win the election to retain the chief minister’s chair.

    Two other newly elected TMC legislators will also take oath on Thursday.

    “Governor WB Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar would administer oath/affirmation to the elected members to the WBLA, viz., MAMATA BANERJEE, JAKIR HOSSIAN and AMIRUL ISLAM at the premises of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on 7 October, 2021 at 11.45 hours,” he tweeted.

    Jakir Hossain was declared victorious by a huge margin of 92,480 votes from the Jangipur constituency, while Amirul Islam won from Samserganj by a margin of 26,379 votes.

    The results were declared on Sunday.

    West Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee on Monday requested the governor to administer the oath to the three legislators, including Banerjee, on October 7.

  • ‘Governor trying to rake up a controversy’: Trinamool on Dhankhar’s Gandhi Jayanti message

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his 152nd birth anniversary and said that “all pervasive fear and violence should be contained” for a democracy to flourish.

    Taking to Twitter, Dhankhar also vowed to propagate the freedom fighter’s principles of peace and non-violence.

    “Befitting tribute to Bapu on #GandhiJayanti2021 – Resolve to practise and propagate his noble principles of peace and non-violence that are globally relevant,” the governor tweeted.

    He also tagged the West Bengal chief minister to the post and said, “To blossom democracy and human dignity there is need @MamataOfficial to contain all pervasive fear and violence.”

    Alleging that Dhankhar was “unnecessarily trying to rake up a controversy” on the occasion, TMC state spokesman Kunal Ghosh asserted that there is no fear of violence in anyone’s mind.

    “Everyone lives in complete peace and harmony here. It is the governor who often makes such tweets which has no link with the reality,” Ghosh claimed.

    During the day, Gandhi Jayanti was observed in state and central offices of the city, maintaining COVID-19 protocols.

    The father of the nation’s statue was garlanded in many places here, and patriotic songs played to pay homage to him.

  • West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta resigns citing ‘personal reasons’, successor appointed

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Advocate General Kishore Datta on Tuesday resigned from his post citing “personal reasons”, following which Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar appointed senior counsel Gopal Mukherjee in his place. Datta, who took charge in February 2017, is the fourth advocate general of West Bengal in a row to have resigned from the post during Mamata Banerjee’s 10-year rule in the state.

    Hours later, Mukherjee was named as the successor of Datta. “In terms of Article 165 (1) of the Constitution of India Governor West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar has appointed Shri Gopal Mukherjee, Senior Advocate of High Court at Calcutta, as Advocate General of the State and will hold office ‘during the pleasure of the Governor’,” Dhankhar tweeted.

    In terms of Article 165 of the Constitution have accepted with immediate effect resignation submitted by Shri Kishore Datta, Senior Advocate, as Advocate General of State of West Bengal @MamataOfficial with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/IKK0Iu4qeG
    — Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) September 14, 2021
    Earlier in the day, the governor said in a Twitter post he accepted the resignation of Dutta with immediate effect. Anindya Mitra, the first advocate general to have taken charge after the TMC government came to power in 2011, and his successors Bimal Chatterjee and Jayanta Mitra had also resigned from the post.

    “Kishore Dutta is a gentleman. But he could not save the state government from embarrassment in the high court in several cases in the past. So, perhaps, he was forced to resign,” BJP MP Arjun Singh said.

    Reacting to Singh’s comment, Trinamool Congress Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said, “We didn’t have the slightest idea that Arjun Singh is so knowledgeable about happenings in the judiciary.”

    He said that Dutta resigned on personal grounds and wondered why no question is asked when any top official in the union government resigns.

  • Bombs hurled outside BJP MP Arjun Sigh’s residence; Bengal Governor condemns incident

    By ANI

    WEST BENGAL: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday condemned the bomb explosion incident which took place outside MP Arjun Singh’s residence in the wee hours of Wednesday.

    He also said that the ‘wanton violence’ in West Bengal shows no sign of abating.

    Taking to Twitter, he said, “Wanton violence in WB shows no sign of abating. Bomb explosions as this morning outside residence of Member Parliament @ArjunsinghWB is worrisome on law and order.”

    Dhankhar demanded prompt action from the West Bengal police over the bomb explosion incident.

    “Expect prompt action @WBPolice. As regards his security the issue has been earlier been flagged @MamataOfficial,” his tweet read further.

    Crude bombs were hurled outside the house of BJP MP Arjun Singh in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, despite security presence.

    While speaking to ANI, a local resident said, “Three bombs were hurled outside Arjun Singh’s residence around 6.30 am on Wednesday. I don’t know who has done this. This has never happened earlier.”

    MP Arjun Singh had earlier also alleged that he was attacked by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers after the West Bengal polls which were conducted earlier this year.

  • Bombs hurled outside BJP MP Arjun Singh’s residence; Bengal Governor condemns incident

    By ANI

    WEST BENGAL: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday condemned the bomb explosion incident which took place outside MP Arjun Singh’s residence in the wee hours of Wednesday.

    He also said that the ‘wanton violence’ in West Bengal shows no sign of abating.

    Taking to Twitter, he said, “Wanton violence in WB shows no sign of abating. Bomb explosions as this morning outside residence of Member Parliament @ArjunsinghWB is worrisome on law and order.”

    Dhankhar demanded prompt action from the West Bengal police over the bomb explosion incident.

    “Expect prompt action @WBPolice. As regards his security the issue has been earlier been flagged @MamataOfficial,” his tweet read further.

    Crude bombs were hurled outside the house of BJP MP Arjun Singh in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, despite security presence.

    While speaking to ANI, a local resident said, “Three bombs were hurled outside Arjun Singh’s residence around 6.30 am on Wednesday. I don’t know who has done this. This has never happened earlier.”

    MP Arjun Singh had earlier also alleged that he was attacked by Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers after the West Bengal polls which were conducted earlier this year.

  • Bengal governor meets speaker, says constitutional institutions need to be in sync

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on Friday met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and discussed the need for constitutional institutions to be in sync to serve public interest.

    Dhankhar tweeted that the Speaker called on him at the Raj Bhavan here.

    “The two deliberated for an hour traversing issues and emphasizing constitutional institutions need to be in sync to subserve larger public interest,” the governor wrote on the microblogging site.

    Banerjee had recently complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about “excessive interference” on the part of governor in matters related to parliamentary democracy and functioning of the House.

    Dhankhar further said, “Constitutional bodies working in tandem and coordination is quintessential for functional democracy. Democracy blossoms as a consequence of this wholesomeness.”

    “Traditions and practices are our legacy from the past and the same need to be nurtured in healthy manner,” he added.

  • Bengal violence: NHRC report became public document due to judicial order, says Dhankhar

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Days after the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of “disrespecting the court” and pursuing “political interests of the BJP” by leaking its report on alleged post-poll violence to the media, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday asserted that the final report became a public document due to a judicial order.

    “The first (NHRC) report was an interim report. Calcutta HC has not released that report. The final report became a public document because of a judicial order. The matter is sub-judice. The law will take its own course,” said Dhankhar while speaking to ANI on the NHRC report on post-poll violence.

    On July 15, West Bengal Chief Minister had alleged that the report was leaked online under a political conspiracy by the commission.

    Mamata had said, “Now even neutral organisations are being used by the BJP for their political interests. Our state is being defamed. The Human Rights Commission should respect the court. Instead of leaking the report to the media, it should have been handed over to the court.”

    The same day, the NHRC in its report on the alleged post-election violence in West Bengal submitted to Calcutta High Court stated that “Spatio-temporal expanse of violent incidents in the state reflects appalling apathy of the state government towards the plight of victims”.

    In the report, the committee said, “This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party. It resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation.”

    Later, the NHRC refuted allegations in a section of the media regarding the leakage of the report relating to the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    In a statement, the rights body said that it has shared copies of the said report with the advocates of the concerned parties in this matter in accordance with the directions of the Calcutta High Court.

    “The National Human Rights Commission constituted a Committee to enquire into the post-poll violence in West Bengal, as per the directions of the Calcutta High Court. The Committee submitted its report to the Court on July 13, 2021.

    On the further directions of the Court, the Committee provided a copy of the said report to its Advocate in Calcutta, who shared with the Advocates of all the concerned parties in the related multiple writ petitions,” the statement read.

    “The matter being sub -judice, the Committee of the NHRC did not share its report with any entity other than those specified by the Court. Since the report is already available with all the concerned parties as per the directives of the Court, there is no question of leakage at the level of the NHRC. The attribution regarding the alleged leakage of the said Report to the NHRC is absolutely baseless and factually incorrect,” it added.

  • Mamata meets Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar amid tense ties between Raj Bhawan, Trinamool

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Amid the ongoing tussle between Raj Bhawan and the state government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar Wednesday held an hour-long meeting and discussed various issues related to the state.

    Dhankar said in a tweet the meeting was held without the presence of aides.

    “Hon’ble Chief Minister @MamataOfficial called on Hon’ble Governor Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan today. The two had an hour-long interaction without aides.”  he tweeted.

    According to sources, the two discussed the resolution passed by the state assembly seeking creation of a legislative council.

    The West Bengal assembly had passed a resolution last week supporting an ad hoc committee report that favoured creation of a legislative council despite strident opposition by the BJP.

    “A lot of issues related to the state were discussed in the meeting, which was held in a very cordial atmosphere,” an official said.

    The meeting came amid growing animosity between Dhankhar and Banerjee, who recently said she has thrice written to the Centre demanding the governor’s recall.

    The faceoff between Dhankhar and Banerjee intensified last month when the chief minister accused the governor of being a “corrupted man” and claimed he was named in the Jain Hawala case.

    Dhankhar remonstrated, accusing her of propagating “lies and misinformation”.

    Dhankhar and the Banerjee government have been at loggerheads ever since he assumed office over a year ago.

    The governor has often expressed concern over the law and order situation, including the violence that followed the assembly polls held earlier this year.