Kolkata: The Centre on Tuesday deployed about 400 troops of paramilitary Border Security Forces (BSF) in West Bengal to control communal violence following a request from the state government.
Internet services were also disrupted in Baduria following communal violence in North 24 Parganas.
Riot erupted in the area close to the Indo-Bangla border after a youth, Sourav Sarkar from Rudrapur, allegedly uploaded an inflammatory post on his Facebook account which went viral and hurt the sentiment of a minority community on Sunday leading to a clash.
Although Sourav fled at night, he was later arrested by the police from a paddy field. The accused has been remanded by the Basirhat Sub-Division Court in the police custody for four days.
On being questioned on the communal clashes in Basirhat, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee violently accused Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi of threatening and insulting her over phone during their conversation on the reports of violence.
Exploding in fury at the state secretariat, Nabanna, she told the media in the afternoon, "The Governor called up me on my phone and threatened me. He also insulted me. I never felt so humiliated in my life. I was so deeply hurt that I thought I would quit my post. The Governor was talking like a BJP Block president. He cannot threaten me."
Read: BJP seeks Centre's interference as communal clashes break out in WB
Banerjee said, "His post is constitutional. A Governor is appointed by the Centre while the CM is elected by the people of the state. I made it clear to him that he cannot talk to me in that tone. I have not become the chief minister with his blessings. We are neither thieves nor dacoits."
On Tuesday evening, the Raj Bhavan in a statement rubbished the CM's allegations.
The Raj Bhavan statement said, "The Hon’ble Governor is surprised at the attitude and language used by the Hon’ble Chief Minister during the Press conference. The talks between the Hon’ble Chief Minister and the Hon’ble Governor were confidential in nature and none is expected to disclose it."
"However, there was nothing in the talks for which the Hon’ble Chief Minister may have felt insulted, threatened or humiliated. The Hon’ble Governor did say to the Hon’ble Chief Minister to ensure peace and law and order by all means. The Hon’ble Governor always holds the persons, who occupy the Constitutional positions, in high esteem," it added.
