Continuing his vitriolic outbursts at the state government, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today came down heavily on the state’s deteriorating law and order problem and termed the situation as “total lawlessness” and “complete breakdown of the state’s law and order machinery”.

To make matters worse, he reprimanded an IPS officer, Barrackpore police commissioner Manoj Verma at a public event at Gandhi Ghat in Barrackpore today, in the presence of state power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee along with other dignitaries, provoking condemnation from the ruling party as well as the Opposition.

The state government did not waste any time in launching a counter- offensive as state education minister Partha Chatterjee and power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee criticised the role of the constitutional head of the state. The Governor today took the state government to task over the law and order situation in the state, terming it as “grave” and “reeling under total lawlessness”. He referred to recent incidents that he maintained indicated that the state’s law and order machinery had completely broken down as the people were taking over the law in their own hands.

“It’s a shame on us as the state is reeling under a grave law and order crisis. It is total lawlessness prevailing in the state. The people who should be taken care of by the law enforcers are taking law into their own hands,” the governor said.

“The incident at the Calcutta University on Tuesday was the glaring example of how the situation can turn out be in the absence of maintenance of law and order. Where was the police then? What the chief secretary was doing?” Dhankhar thundered alluding to the Calcutta University fiasco from where he had to make an unceremonious exit following a barrage of protests from a group of students against his presence in the convocation.

Earlier this morning, at Gandhi Ghat, Barrackpore, where the governor had visited to pay his homage to the Father of the Nation, he was seen making caustic comments against the Barrackpore police commissioner Manoj Verma, hauling him over the coals for his purported dereliction of duty in maintaining security by reading a newspaper when the Governor came calling.

Sovandeb Chatterjee, state power minister, who was witness to the incident said, “The governor’s act is a publicity stunt. Whatever he is doing, including his Press conferences is nothing but to hog the limelight. I had never seen such a governor in my life in my political career spanning over 50 years. It is highly condemnable that the constitutional head of the state is breaching courtesy so brazenly.”

Mr Partha Chatterjee, state education minister and the Trinamul Congress general secretary said: “It is unfortunate and a botch on the constitution that we have in our state such a constitutional head and who is also the chancellor of the state universities. The way he was dealing with an IPS officer at a public event is beyond our imagination. He happens to be the chancellor also. If his conduct as the chancellor is going to be like that, how shall he deal with the students?”