'Crossed Red Line': Bengal Governor After TMC's Abhishek Banerjee Criticizes CBI Investigations
Governor Jagdeep Dhankar said Abhishek Banerjee “crossed the red line” by criticising the judiciary for ordering CBI investigations stating constitutional rights are under attack.
New Delhi: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said that Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee “crossed the red line” by criticising the judiciary for ordering CBI investigations, Dhankhar asserted that constitutional rights in West Bengal are under attack. He called upon the state's chief secretary to urgently initiate appropriate action while stating that he was taking serious note of the comments made by Banerjee. "Constitutional institutions in the state are under attack, the attack on judiciary is reprehensible," Dhankhar said on arriving at Bagdogra airport here on the way to Darjeeling.
"In a public meeting, attacking a judge who ordered a CBI inquiry into the SSC scam is most condemnable," the governor said, adding, "the honourable Member of Parliament crossed the red line".
In the last year, the Calcutta High Court has ordered CBI investigations in several cases including the post-poll violence and recruitment of teachers by the School Service Commission (SSC).
During a rally in Haldia on Saturday TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee lashed out at "1 percent of the judiciary" for ordering CBI investigation in "every case" in the state.
"I feel ashamed to say that there are one or two people in the judiciary who are hand in gloves and have a tacit understanding and are ordering CBI investigation in every case. This is just 1 percent of the judiciary," Banerjee had said, without clarifying the allegations.
"If you think you will take action against me for speaking the truth, then I will speak the truth a thousand times," he had said.
The development seemed to have opened another front in the turf war between the TMC government and the governor, which has been ongoing since he assumed office in July 2019.