Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday urged President Pranab Mukherjee for his immediate intervention for replacement of Acting state Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya who has allegedly "converted his office into an annex of BJP office".
In a letter to the President on Saturday, Gogoi alleged the continuance of Acharya as in-charge Governor of Assam would cause immense difficulty in functioning of parliamentary democracy and create fissures in the state's secular ethos.
"We had welcomed Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya to our State as we presumed that being a high Constitutional functionary, he would conduct himself fairly, cautiously and circumspectly," he said.
"However, I am pained to say that ever since assuming office, the Governor of Assam through his actions has steadily lowered the prestige of the institution of the Governor," the Chief Minister asserted.
Gogoi alleged that Acharya has been "making no distinction between his constitutional functioning as Governor of a State and his political and ideological instincts which are evidently linked to the ruling party at the Centre, the BJP, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh".
He said, "Acharya made a shocking public statement that 'Hindustan is for Hindus' on November 21 last" Such a statement, which was condemned by almost all sections of society, "reflect the unacceptably divisive and communal mindset of an incumbent holding a high Constitutional post" and "is in flagrant violation of the secular tenets of the Constitution", the chief minister said.
Acharya unilaterally altered a panel belonging to the unrepresented communities as nominated members submitted by the Bodoland Territorial Areas and recommended by the Council of Ministers and replaced four of the six names with nominees of his own choice, Gogoi alleged.
"Aggrieved by this act of the Governor, the BTC filed a writ petition in the Gauhati High Court and the latter kept the notification issued by the State Government in abeyance," he said.
