GoC shows letters seeking nod for army drill, but Mamata remains defiant

After a high drama over “deployment of army” at certain toll plazas in West Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a decision to stay put at the state secretariat “Nabanna” on Thursday night, even after the force was removed from a toll plaza near it as per her demand.

Following his remarks on the West Bengal Chief Minister’s observations about the Army, the Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi was criticised by Mamata Banerjee on Saturday.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee finally left the Secretariat office on Friday evening after spending 36 hours in the building.

The leader of the party Sudip Bandhopadhyay stated that such kind of incident is very serious and the government has continued harassed his leader and her life is in great danger.

“Every person should take care in making allegations against a responsible organization like Indian Army”.

Rebutting the claims of Mamata Bannerjee, the army said it was conducting the exercise in coordination with Kolkata Police.

Trinamool Congress secretary general and minister Partha Chatterjee later led an eight-member party delegation to Raj Bhavan.

Banerjee alleged that the army was taking money from the people at the toll plazas, and called it “loot”. Army doesn’t collect toll? One letter asking to allow a drill at the Second Hooghly Bridge elicited a response, on 28 November, from the Kolkata Police, advising the army not to conduct the exercise as it was a “high security zone”.

Demanding to know whether a military coup has taken place, she said “the motive is political, vindictive, unconstitutional, unethical and undemocratic”. Has the state government of West Bengal given permission to the government of India to deploy the Army? “At this juncture, the judiciary needs to protect democracy by utilising its power”, said Poojary, who was Union minister in Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and P V Narasimha Rao governments.

Speaking to mediapersons, he said a joint inspection was carried out by the Army and the Kolkata Police at the site of toll plaza on November 27. The fury which she raised in the parliament and cheap drama of locking herself at the state secretariat “Nabanna” is proving as senseless and baseless.

Along with West Bengal, similar exercise was carried out in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram, Parrikar said while responding to TMC and Congress MPs.

But the BJP rubbished her claim, saying she had “lost her mental balance” after losing money following the central government’s shock recall of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes three weeks ago.