The Centre has expressed its displeasure with the West Bengal Governor, Keshari Nath Tripathi, giving repeated statements over his tiff with the state's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has reportedly spoken to Tripathi thrice over the telephone asking him not to say anything further on the matter which has only snowballed once the chief minister brought it out in the public.
She said on Tuesday that the governor had "threatened" her in the wake of the communal clashes that broke out in the state's North 24 Parganas district over a Facebook post deriding one community.
The home ministry feels the governor need not have reprimanded the chief minister and the Centre has been left red-faced because of this. It thinks Banerjee had taken quick steps after the violence spread and it was not right on behalf of the constitutional head to target the elected chief minister in the way he did.
Governor Tripathi might have felt that he did his duty by speaking to the executive chief of the state on the problem but it is also true that the same governor had not spoken in the same tone on the Gorkhaland problem in North Bengal where also the fire is raging for over several weeks now. Was that also not his responsibility then?
It was surprising to see that he did not speak up on a matter on which the BJP is in a tricky situation and would prefer silence for political reasons.
Tripathi is accused by many as a BJP man (one senior minister of the Banerjee government called him "BJP's parrot") and his action so far will give his critics more reasons to feel convinced about it. Did the governor say anything on the report that the state BJP was showing footage to the media about the violence which could worsen the situation further in no time?
The governor has his constitutional responsibility no doubt. The chief minister has not done it right by speaking against him in the open. But at the same time, has the governor done enough to show that he is above partisan politics?
The clash between two high post-holders of Bengal though might look an administrative issue, but deep down somewhere, it is the political ideology of two warring parties which is calling the shots. This are dangerous signs for a federal democracy.
