In a fresh salvo, chief minister Mamata Banerjee today alleged that governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s “sweeping” statements about arson in Rampurhat incident were “not forthcoming” and aimed to “malign and castigate” the state government while urging him to “refrain from making unwarranted statements”.

“Our state is always peaceful, barring a few stray incidents. But whenever an unfortunate incident happens in West Bengal, you leave no stone unturned to castigate and malign the state government. Your utterances and statements have political overtones which provide support to other political parties to browbeat the government…I would request you to kindly refrain from making unwarranted statements and also allow the administration to conduct impartial investigation to find out the truth and take exemplary action against those involved in the incident,” wrote Miss Banerjee in her two-page letter.

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Miss Banerjee wrote: “….your comments were not forthcoming whenever much more heinous incidents happened in BJP-ruled states and also in other parts of the country. Surprisingly, in all these cases, you have chosen to remain silent.” Miss Banerjee stated that it is “highly improper to make sweeping and uncalled for statements instead of paving the way for impartial investigation”.

She said that Mr Dhankhar’s tweet is “highly unfortunate and unbecoming of a person holding such a dignified constitutional post”. Earlier, Mr Dhankhar had released a video message on his official Twitter handle along with a post in which he described the incident as “horrifying violence and arson orgy”. “Horrifying violence and arson orgy #Rampurhat #Birbhum indicates the state is in the grip of violence culture and lawlessness. Already eight lives lost. Have sought urgent update on the incident from Chief Secretary. My thoughts are with the families of the bereaved,” his post read.

She said that it has pained her that Mr Dhankhar has chosen an unfortunate incident that resulted in loss of lives to pass “sweeping and uncalled for comments on law and order situation in the state. The incident is unfortunate and the state government is saddened at the loss of lives. Giving an account of the steps taken by the state government to investigate the incident, Miss Banerjee wrote that action has been taken against local police officers, senior minister Firhad Hakim has rushed to the spot, SIT has been formed and 10 people have been arrested.

“The possibility of a larger political conspiracy to malign the image of the state cannot be ruled out and the investigation will make all-out efforts to unearth all those who are behind the occurrence of the incident,” she said.