Amidst swearing-in row of MLAs, Mamata says women don’t feel safe in Raj Bhavan

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee criticizes Governor C. V. Ananda Bose for delaying oath-taking ceremony, citing women's safety concerns at Raj Bhavan.

Amid the row over the venue for the swearing-in ceremony of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said women “are not feeling safe” in the Raj Bhavan and Governor C. V. Ananda Bose had no right to delay the oath-taking ceremony of her MLAs.

“Why must everyone go to the Raj Bhavan? The Governor can authorise the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker, or can attend the Assembly himself. Women have informed me they are not feeling safe to visit Raj Bhavan due to recent incidents reported there,” Ms. Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister was alluding to the case of harassment levelled against the Governor by a woman staff of the Raj Bhavan in May.

Two MLAs, Sayantika Bandyopadhyay and Rayat Hossain Sarkar, elected from Baranagar and Bhagwangola Assembly seats in the recently concluded byelection, have been demanding that the Governor administer oaths to them in the State Assembly. Earlier, the Raj Bhavan had invited the MLAs to the Governor’s house for the oath-taking ceremony, but they did not show up.

On Thursday, the MLAs held protests in the State Assembly for the second consecutive day. On Wednesday, the Governor refused to hold the swearing-in ceremony in the Assembly and left for New Delhi in the afternoon.

The Chief Minister broke her silence on the issue that has been festering for the past several weeks. “Nearly a month has passed but my MLAs are unable to take oath. The Governor is obstructing them from doing so. It is the people who have elected them, not the Governor. He cannot deny them the right to take oath,” she said.

Relations between the Governor and the West Bengal government have been frosty over the past few months and after the allegations of harassment surfaced, the ties turned sour. The Chief Minister and the Ministers of the State government have not visited Raj Bhavan since May 2, when the allegations by the employee were made public.