What is West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's fitness secret?
What keeps him ticking is his old courtroom habits of donning a lawyer’s gown in his imagination and engaging in banter by giving quick, smart repartees.
Guess what it takes for Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to field salvos from Trinamool Congress heavyweights with ease? His fitness routine. Early to-bed and early-to-rise, half an hour of brisk walking, followed by an hour of Surya Namaskar, pranayam, kapalbhati, anulom-vilom in the morning, a few games of table tennis in the evening and bed by 10 pm, keep him not only healthy and wise but also mentally agile, in good humour and in sporting spirits.
But what keeps him ticking is his old courtroom habits of donning a lawyer’s gown in his imagination and engaging in banter — giving quick, smart repartees and taking his brief, which he claims to be upholding the letters of the Constitution, too seriously. Otherwise, how does one explain a Governor who enjoys facing and returning the punches with great zest. When a woman MP calls him a “rotten apple” and a lawyer with not-so luminous a career, he drubs such attempts to “curry favour” with the chief minister “after having let the corruption cat out”. The Governor was referring to an incident where the MP in question had embarrassed her own party men by revealing how corruption has taken deep roots (read grass-roots, which in Bengali means Trinamool) among a section in the party.
Many leaders including Trinamool Congress supremo did not take kindly to that MP’s remarks on corruption, because it sounded similar to the allegations raised by the Opposition.
Dhankhar, alluding to that incident, in his blamed the “helplessness” of the MP and the circumstances under which the leader put her foot in her mouth. “Sharp well aimed arrows @MahuaMoitra against her own government were lethal. Not the only one in such a state of helplessness. Concerned at the captivity of these worthy leaders,” he tweeted, marking it to State party president Dilip Ghosh gave a twist to an old TMC statement.
Sharp well aimed Arrows @MahuaMoitra against her own government were lethal and the rampant corruption issue in the State was prominently flagged-PANCHAYAT CORRUPTION took centre stage- reminding all about ‘CUT MONEY’ syndrome stated to be all pervasive @MamataOfficial.
— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) June 13, 2020
Few takers in BJP for ‘radical’ slogan CM Mamata Banerjee as well. Krishnanagar MP Mahua Moitra responded, calling the Governor "uncleji" and advising him to start preparing for the Rajasthan election and “keeping fit”.
Dhankhar is bracing for attacks from all quarters of the ruling party. Many MPs, from whose visible Twitter handles are used to hurl abuses, have explained to Dhankhar they have no role in insulting him. They said their Twitter handles were usurped and used by somebody else. Dhankhar happens to be the favourite punching bag of the Trinamool Congress. This is because any comment or word spoken by the Governor from that perch carries a certain authority, which cannot be dismissed easily.
Moreover, the Governor knows how to fight and defend a case. He has enormous patience, tolerance and is able to absorb and deflect criticism coming his way, politely. He takes on the Trinamool leaders with the right mix of humour and satire, which is being accepted and appreciated as a special genre of Twitter debates.
Initially, BJP leaders tried to take Dhankhar’s side. But it is clear that he can fight his own case. The intervention of the saffron leaders would strengthen the Trinamool Congress’s claims that Dhankhar was acting as a party cadre and the Raj Bhawan was an extension of the party office. So the Constitutional head of the state is managing affairs. After all, he’s on a self-designated assignment of bringing back the lost glory of West Bengal.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)