Kolkata: The Indian Army’s Eastern Command has raised objections with West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent remarks alleging that a senior Army officer based at Fort William was involved in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls at the behest of the BJP.

According to a senior official at Raj Bhavan, two senior Army officers from Fort William met the Governor last week and submitted a communication expressing concern over the Chief Minister’s claims. While the exact contents of the communication were not disclosed, the official said the Governor took serious note of the issue and flagged it to the appropriate authorities at the Centre.

“The Army officers are understood to have spoken to the Governor and requested his intervention in the matter. The Army is peeved with the Chief Minister's recent remarks suggesting that a commandant of the forces was working for the BJP while remaining posted at Fort William,” the official told PTI.

Banerjee had alleged on January 13 that an Army officer was using the Eastern Command headquarters for political activities linked to the SIR exercise in the state. “I have information that a commandant at Fort William is working on SIR to lend support to the BJP. He is sitting there and doing the work of the BJP party office. I request them with folded hands to desist from such activities,” she had said at a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna.

Following the meeting with the Army officers, Governor Bose is understood to have taken up the matter with the Defence Ministry, highlighting the seriousness of the allegations, the official said. Earlier, responding to questions on the controversy, Bose had remarked, “Let me first verify for myself what she said. If this violates any constitutional propriety, I will certainly intervene.”

Confirming the meeting, a senior official at Fort William said, “Two of our officers met the honourable governor recently regarding the comments made by the honourable chief minister of West Bengal. They discussed the issue with the honourable governor, who assured them that he would look into the matter.”

The episode has added to the already charged political climate in poll-bound West Bengal, where the Election Commission’s SIR exercise has sharpened tensions between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP, with the Left and Congress also weighing in.

Reacting sharply, BJP’s West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya said, “Mamata Banerjee thinks she can say anything because she considers herself the President of West Bengal.” He added, “She doesn't consider West Bengal a state within India; she thinks of Bengal as a sovereign nation and herself its president,” dismissing the allegations as “baseless”.

CPM state secretary Md Salim termed the issue “serious” and said the Chief Minister should pursue the matter formally. “This is an absolutely serious issue. We must find out the truth behind this allegation,” he said, adding that Banerjee should write to the Defence Minister and substantiate her claims.

PTI