West Bengal: Governor opposes Mamata's offer to shelter ‘helpless’ Bangladeshis
It said the governor had told the chief minister to furnish a report explaining the basis for such an announcement “disregarding constitutional proprieties”
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s public offer to provide shelter to “helpless people” fleeing the Bangladesh violence has sparked an angry reaction from governor CV Ananda Bose.
At the annual Martyrs' Day rally of her Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Sunday, the chef minister first said that she should not speak on the affairs of Bangladesh as it was a sovereign nation.
“Whatever needs to be said on the issue is a subject matter of the Centre. But I can tell you this, if helpless people come knocking on our doors, we will surely provide them shelter,” Banerjee said.
Governor’s objection
The governor found this statement a “Constitutional transgression of a very serious nature”.
Bangladesh has witnessed a major outbreak of violence over job quotas, forcing hundreds of Indian students based in that country to flee to India.
In a post on X, the Raj Bhavan’s Media Cell said the Centre had the prerogative to handle anything related to external affairs.
Centre-versus-Bengal
"The matter of accommodating people coming in from a foreign country lies in the domain of the Union government. Public statement by a chief minister undertaking the responsibility to provide shelter to people who may be coming in from a foreign nation implies Constitutional transgression of a very serious nature," it said on Monday.
It said the governor had told the chief minister to furnish a comprehensive report explaining the basis for such an announcement “disregarding constitutional proprieties”.
He also demanded to know the action being taken to ensure that the anticipated immigration into the country does not affect the normalcy of life in the border areas within Bengal.
Raj Bhavan disclaimer
However, the post was credited to an officer on special duty, and said as a "disclaimer" that its contents were for the information of the Raj Bhavan staff and shall not be quoted as statements of the governor.
In her Sunday statement, Mamata Banerjee also said urged the people of West Bengal to not get provoked over matters regarding the situation in Bangladesh.
