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Bengal Guv Dhankhar asks govt cost of anti-CAA advertisement, calls it illegal

Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By
Feb 29, 2020 10:45 PM IST

The letter, however, specifically asked the government to state the “names and details of the officials who are seen in the advertisements”.

Raj Bhawan on Saturday afternoon released a letter that the special secretary to governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote to the Trinamool Congress government on February 4, wanting to know how much money was spent on advertisements against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and who had ordered the campaign.

The advertisement which said, “No CAA” and “No NRC” (National Register of Citizens) and featured chief minister Mamata Banerjee appeared on television and other mediums in December and January.

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The letter, however, specifically asked the government to state the “names and details of the officials who are seen in the advertisements”.

“The advertisement is a political agenda of the ruling party in the state and violation of law,” the governor’s special secretary, Kumarjib Chakraborty, wrote, quoting Dhankhar. The letter was addressed to the principal secretary of the information and cultural affairs department, Vivek Kumar.

“A large number of people have raised an alarm at such misuse of public money for furthering the political strategy of the ruling party and sought intervention of the governor,” said Chakraborty.

The advertisements were stopped by a stay order from the Calcutta high court, the letter said.

A senior Raj Bhawan official, who did not wish to be identified, said no reply from the government was received till Saturday evening.

Vivek Kumar was not available for comment. Trinamool Congress ministers refused to comment.

Incidentally, the letter was sent to the government three days before Dhankhar addressed the state assembly on the opening day of the budget session.

There were differences between Dhankhar and the government over the speech that the government had prepared for his address. Although Dhankhar initially indicated that he might add some points that he wanted to mention, he read out the prepared speech.

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