In a press release issued by Manab Bandyopadhyay, Press Secretary to the Governor of West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, it was stated that the Governor has taken exception to the blackout of his address to the Assembly on 7th February, 2020.
The Governor chose not to make any changes while reading out the opening speech of the budget which was handed over by the State Government. The speech mentioned that India was gripped by fear and intolerance in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizenship NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
Further, he also lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee-led government over the State budget which was being tabled in the Assembly at 2:00 pm on Monday. The Governor went on to tweet that his speech was denied live telecast in the media while State Finance Minister Amit Mitra’s speech was telecast live.
The statement issued said that "Governor Dhankhar takes this as an intolerant act and violation of the right of the people. This also compromises right to expression."
Budget Speech of Finance Minister Dr. Amit Mitra was shown live. The statement added, "Governor Dhankhar appreciated this direct telecast of FM speech as it helps people know about Legislature working. However, this situation makes discrimination apparent. This is a crucifixion of democratic values. All over the country there is increasing transparency of proceedings of the House. It is for the Legislator, Executive and the Media to engage in soul searching as regard this kind of media muzzling and censorship."
The statement also stated that the Governor has appealed everyone concerned in the government and the legislator not to belittle democratic values as narrow partisan considerations.
Earlier, the Governor who is seen as being in support of the BJP-led Centre had surprised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) by speaking in their tone. The TMC has been protesting against CAA, NRC and NPR along with other political parties that are being vocal on the issue across the nation. While speaking to the media, he went on to say thereafter that he is pro-welfare when it comes to the State and was confident that the TMC government will work in tandem him.
