Governor versus the state

The long-standing heated exchange between the governor and the TMC government over political issues has caused a constitutional impasse. What l ies ahead?

- Abhilash Kumar Singh

THE West Bengal assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021 but it has been over shadowed by rancorous exchanges between Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and the state government. Recently, the Trinamool Congress submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind requesting him to remove Dhankhar for his failure to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and added that he was “transgressing constitutional limits”. The signatories to the memorandum were Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Derek O’Brien.

They alleged that the “governor had repeatedly breached the law declared by the Supreme Court. From the seat of the highest Constitutional office in the state, he has been inducing divisive politics, just because ruling parties at the centre and the state are political opponents. The governor holds office during the pleasure of the President as per Article 156, Clause 1. We have urged the President to withdraw the pleasure, which translates into removing this governor”.

Recently, the TMC submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind requesting him to remove the governor. The party alleged that he was “transgressing constitutional limits”.