In an interview where he is outspokenly critical of the Governor of Bengal, Ananda Bose, the former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi has said Bose’s live interview on August 16 to NDTV about the present crisis in Bengal was “highly improper”, adding it was “immature”, “unconstitutional” and “condemnable”. Najeeb Jung said it was “a failure of judgement” and that Bose “should never have been on TV”.
Jung said that after this interview the chief minister of Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, would be “entirely within her rights” if she demands the immediate recall of the Bengal Governor.
In a 20-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Najeeb Jung, who is also a former Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, was talking about a live interview that the Governor of Bengal gave NDTV at around 8.40 pm on August 16.
In the interview, the Governor often sounded like a critic of the elected government of Bengal and certainly did not sound supportive of it. The Governor claimed that there is growing fear in Bengal, violence everywhere and democracy has become mobocracy. At one point, the Governor said the Bengal of today is not the Bengal of Rabindranath Tagore.
Jung was asked if all of this sounded as if the Bengal Governor was criticising Banerjee and her government and also running down the state of Bengal. Jung was asked if the Governor sounded as if he was presenting himself as a separate and alternative authority to the state government.
In his interview, the Bengal Governor claimed he had given “instructions” to the state government. Jung said that the Governor does not have the authority or the power to give instructions. He can advise and warn in private but he does not have the power to give instructions.
