West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on Sunday hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and urged her to withdrawn advertisements showing that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not be implemented in the state.
Addressing a press conference at Raj Bhavan here, Dhankar said: "I am sure the Chief Minister will at least withdraw advertisements, which state that the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC will not be implemented in the state. These are unconstitutional. It is a criminal use of public funds."
"How can an elected head of the government use the public funds and advertise that there will be no NRC and CAA. Public money cannot be used to lead an agitation against the law of the land," said he.
The Governor further appealed to the state government to get only in the administrative mode, saying that the Chief Minister should focus on administration and "if she thinks that she needs assistance from any quarters, then she should indicate."
"The greatest worry to me is that fear is injected in a section of society, particularly in Malda, Murshidabad and Nadia. This our Constitution doesn't allow. The government must immediately take note of it and act very fast."
"I would also urge media, please, make sure that our role at this time should be in the interest of the nation, for the rule of law and for maintaining peace," added the Governor.
"It is no occasion to play politics or look for political gains. I appeal to the people of the state to do everything they can do to lend a helping hand to someone in distress and maintain peace," said Dhankar.
( With inputs from ANI )