Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of appeasing the minority community amid questions on whether the constitutional head of the state should have levelled such a charge — a political narrative that the BJP has used against her.

“Your appeasement of the minority community was so explicit and awkward that as regards a question about the Nizamuddin Markaz incident by a journalist, your reaction was ‘Do not ask communal questions’. This is most unfortunate and cannot be appreciated. You will appreciate that a perpetrator can never position as victim,” the governor said in a 14-page letter that Raj Bhavan released to the media.

The chief minister had earlier said communalisation of the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation was “condemnable”.

Nearly 2,000 people, including some from other nations, had participated in the March 13-15 congregation when the nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19 had not been announced yet.

She had also said there was no need for worry over people who had contracted the novel coronavirus at the event.

There was no reaction from Mamata to the letter.

But sources close to her said she had “other priorities” as the elected head of the state.

“The content of the letter makes it clear that the governor is parroting the BJP narrative despite holding a Constitutional post… She is busy handling the pandemic and has other priorities,” said the source.

In his letter, Dhankhar accused Mamata of “abject failure” in dealing with the Covid-19 situation in the state.

Referring to her letter, he wrote: “Your communication is part of “alibi strategy”. It emanates from a script that seeks to cover up ‘monumental failures’ in these challenging times by series of ‘blunders’ while people of the state are suffering untold miseries, media is muzzled, health warriors are stressed and there is virtual suspension of human rights of those not belonging to your party.”