Don’t defame Army, says Bengal Guv; Didi hits back

Kolkata, December 3

West Bengal Governor KN Tripathi today cautioned against “defaming” and “letting down” the Army in the wake of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that soldiers extorted money from truck drivers during their deployment at toll plazas.

Tripathi said: “Every person should take care in making allegation against a responsible organisation like the Army. Don’t let down the Army. Don’t defame the Army.” Responding to Tripathi’s caution, Mamata accused him of speaking in the “tone of central government” on the issue.

“The Governor is speaking in the voice of the Central Government! He was not in the city for about eight days,” she tweeted.

Terming the Governor’s comments as “unfortunate”, Mamata, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said Tripathi should have checked details of recent developments in the state before commenting.

“Before making statements, all details should have been checked. It is very unfortunate,” said Banerjee, who spent Thursday night at the state secretariat and stayed put there for 36 hours protesting deployment of the Army at toll plazas in the state allegedly without informing her government—an issue that snowballed into a major row causing disruptions in Parliament. The Centre and the Army rubbished the allegations, saying too much was being read into a routine exercise.

Meanwhile, a Trinamool Congress delegation, on Saturday afternoon met the state governor and submitted a memorandum protesting against the deployment of Army at toll plazas.

“We have informed him in detail about how the Army was deployed at 18 places in West Bengal without the permission of the state government,” said State Education and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee after meeting the Governor.

Echoing party supremo Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool leader criticised the Governor for his comments on the issue. — IANS