Banerjee has just called Dhankhar a “corrupt” BJP politician who has been “named in the Jain Hawala case chargesheet”. Dhankhar has dutifully dismissed the salvo but this is the first time a Governor is being openly called a thief by a CM. Knowing how Trinamool Congress deals with adversaries, “Go back Dhankhar” and “Dhankhar Murdabad” slogans and banners might soon be replaced by “Gali gali mein shor hai, Governor Dhankhar chor hai”. If the whole state, especially the Raj Bhawan gates, reverberates with this war cry, where will Dhankar hide? No ear plug will help.
Dhankhar will depart someday only to be remembered as West Bengal’s most unwanted Governor. No Governor has served as an agent of the party in power at the Centre as dangerously and conspicuously as Dhankar has done. After the electoral rout, the BJP top leadership is using him to slander the Trinamool Congress dispensation in violation of all constitutional norms and traditions spanning seven decades.
The Centre seems to have pulled out all stops. It is even promoting other Dhankhars! Alarmingly, the West Bengal Bar Council chairman, Ashoke Deb, who is a Trinamool MLA, has asked the Chief Justice of India in writing to remove the Calcutta High Court Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for being “unfair, partial and biased” against the state government. Questioning Bindal’s “character” and “conduct”, Deb says that he has “made a mockery of the judicial conscience” in tandem with the CBI. Deb could well have bracketed the Governor with CBI and Bindal.
