West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today said that he felt insulted and hurt for being subject to a “blackout” during the Durga Puja Carnival on Red Road on October 11. He said that despite being invited by the Mamata Banerjee government, he was not shown on television for once during the four hours that the programme was telecast live.
A separate stage was made for the Governor adjacent to the podium meant for chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Jagdeep Dhankar today said that he was “deeply hurt and insulted” that such a thing happened. “It is an insult to the culture of Bengal. I was therefore for four hours and there was a total blackout,” he said, adding that such kind of censorship was unheard of. He said that someone had called him up and said it was reminiscent of the Emergency. “You can’t have such kind of intolerance,” he said, adding that it would be clear what he was saying if someone went through the video coverage. “It has put me to shame. It should not be done. It took me three days to recover… from the injury to my heart,” he said. The Governor said that Bengal was a place of culture and “if they act in an uncultured manner”, he felt it needed to be commented on. “I don’t care for ego or protocol, but for the office that I hold. I kept quiet, thinking someone might bring it up and say it was wrong,” he said.
“One should know why it happened, should it have happened, and why they engaged in the ignoble act of blacking out a person holding this position, for four hours,” Jagdeep Dhankar said.
The CM briefly met him at the Carnival venue when he arrived. However, officials said that while the CM sat with dignitaries and celebrities, the Governor sat with his family. The Governor said that when such a thing happens for four hours, it can’t be called an accident. He said he refused to believe that it went unnoticed by the officials. He expressed surprise at the silence of the media over this.
Officials in the Governor’s office said that during the live streaming of the event, the cameras did not focus on him even once and instead kept showing the CM and the celebrities surrounding her.
Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Roy reacted saying that the Governor’s comments were “extremely unfortunate” and that “a separate stage was especially made for him to show him respect”.
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