Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar slams Mamata govt. for not inviting to KIFF ceremony

Kolkata/IBNS: Even as the 25th edition of Kolkata International Film Festival(KIFF) was inaugurated on Friday with whose who of the city and the Cineworld in attendance, West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar said he had not been invited to the mega event.

The governor said he was unfazed by the snub, but was concerned about the attitude of the state government.

The governor also recounted the insult at the recent Durga Puja carnival, which had hurt him deeply and called the treatment given to him unthinkable.

Dhankar had been openly criticising the state government on various occasions, which the state government apparently did not take lightly.

It all began when the governor went to Jadavpur University to rescue Asansol MP and BJP leader Babul Supriyo after students of the Left unions of the varsity allegedly trapped and heckled him for hours in Sep last. The state government disapproved Dhankars action saying he had not consulted it before taking the decision.

Recently, TMC secretary-general and state minister Partha Chatterjee in a veiled attack went as far as calling him spokesperson of a political party after Dhankar questioned Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees allegation of privacy breach and said he had received complaints from a section of people in the state that their phones were being tapped.

Dhankar had also demanded enquiry into the killings of an RSS activist and his family in Murshidabad in Oct by honest and efficient police officers even after the state police claimed to solve the triple murder case. After three security personnel were shot at when they went to arrest troublemakers at a Kali Puja Pandal in Sandeshkhali area of North 24 Parganas district, the governor said the law and order in the state was collapsing and the state government should take adequate measures.

TMC in its turn accused the governor of being publicity-hungry and his actions unbecoming of a governor.