Kolkata: Expressing her “surprise” to defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s letter slamming her for her attack on the recent Army deployment at toll plazas in the state, chief minister Mamata Banerjee strongly rebutted his claims in her reply letter to him on Friday afternoon.
She accused Mr Parrikar and the Centre of unleashing political vendetta against her government. Questioning Mr Parrikar’s arguments, Ms Banerjee cautioned him that it was unbecoming of a Central minister to make “near-defamatory” comments about a chief minister.
She also asked Mr Parrikar to amend his views in her two-page letter, which she sent after holding a meeting with state chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee, state home secretary Moloy De and Kolkata police commissioner Rajiv Kumar in the Assembly.
Ms Banerjee wrote, “I was surprised to receive your letter dated 8th December, 2016 today, much well after the letter was flashed in the electronic media. We are well aware that the Indian Army is an institution which is the pride of the nation and this has been pointed out by me on many occasions in my public life and even during the time the incident happened.”
Clarifying her stand she spoke about her deep respect for the professionalism and sacrifice by the army jawans for the country’s defence and during the aid of civil authority. “But my complaint was not against the army. It was against your government and the government policy, as they act under your directions,” Ms Banerjee explained.
She continued, “During my long political and administrative life, I have never seen such political vendetta by misusing the role of an esteemed organization. The Central government had allowed Army deployment without prior intimation to the State. It came to my knowledge that the local Kolkata police objected for any exercise within 200 meters of the state secretariat, which is a high security zone.”
Lashing out at the Centre for ignoring the city police’s objections she added, “On earlier occasions, such exercise was done in joint coordination with the State Government and we used to provide full cooperation. But this time unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence had made a departure. In any case, you will appreciate that Toll Plaza data are readily available with National Highway Authority of India and other agencies and the exercise could have been avoided.”
In her strongly worded letter, the chief minister wrote, “I take strong exception to your wild assertion that my articulation of the rights of the state government vis-a-vis army deployment without clearance has impacted the morale of the armed forces. You have also, in the paragraph chosen to convey the laughable idea that your are the sole spokesperson on behalf of the people at large.”
She observed, “I do not think that it behoves a Union minister to pass near-defamatory remarks on a CM of any State.”
