West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Monday said that the practice of calling someone from another region of our country as an "outsider" is unconstitutional.
This comes nearly a month after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that there is "no place for outsiders who come during polls and incite violence."
"I do not understand based on what perspective is a person from another region of our country called an 'outsider'. This culture is unconstitutional. If one says such a thing I would request them to read the Indian Constitution," said governor Dhankar during a media interaction.
"I am concerned about constitutional confrontations. It is the responsibility of the governor to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. The state police and administrations are influenced by state politics and target people. This is dangerous for democracy and the law. Just for the sake of politics, there should not be any attack on opponents," he added.
On November 26, Banerjee while addressing a press conference had said, "There is no place for outsiders in Bengal who come only during elections to incite violence. I say this place is not for outsiders. They come here only to do politics during elections."
Governor Dhankar said that he never imagined that Suvendu Adhikari, who left the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would write a letter to him mentioning that he and his associates may be implicated in criminal cases due to political decisions.
"Suvendu Adhikari's been part of the govt for very long and an associate of the CM. I never imagined that he would write a letter like that to me. It is a matter of concern that in a democracy someone should feel threatened due to political decisions," he said.
Adhikari on December 16 wrote to West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar alleging "political vendetta" by the state government and sought his intervention so that police and administration are dissuaded from implicating him and associates in criminal cases.
( With inputs from ANI )
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