West Bengal emerging as police state: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

The Governor said it is time for the chief minister's "tryst with reality" and to get down to provide relief to the people suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday (May 4) slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee "for running a police state" and said her "misplaced" stance about constitutional norms reflects "authoritarianism" which has no place in a democracy.

"West Bengal is, unfortunately, emerging as a 'police state' with anyone posting on social media, to the distaste of the ruling dispensation, gets a police knock at his door," the governor said in a letter to the chief minister.

He said it is time for the chief minister's "tryst with reality" and to get down to provide relief to the people suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

"The bitter truth is - People in the state only know only too well 'Who in the State is a usurper and extra-Constitutional fountain of power'! Who runs government and syndicates! Who is this ABCD! An open secret! Surely I am not the one, I can assure you that I am reasonably updated about affairs of state," Dhankhar wrote in the letter to Banerjee.