West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday sparked a controversy after she asked East Midnapore Superintendent of Police (SP) whether he is unable to perform his duties properly and if West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar calls him.

Former IPS officers objected to the CM’s comments, made at an event in Kolkata, and said it will demoralise the morale of the senior IPS and IAS officers when they see their colleagues being flayed by the CM in front of everyone, including media and public representatives.

The WB CM also drew the ire of the opposition political parties that said the CM in a way threatened the IPS officer ahead of the municipal polls and also violated the model code of conduct by speaking to the police superintendents and district magistrates.

“I have received complaints from your district. I had to take action and arrest certain persons following complaints by Exide Industries and Dhanukas. The rioters have no religion, they work under certain politicians. Are you unable to perform under some kind of pressure? Banerjee enquired while speaking to East Midnapore SP Amarnath K. The administrative meeting today at Netaji Indoor Stadium was taking place in the presence of all IAS and IPS officers, state ministers, zilla Parishad and panchayat members. The media was also present in the programme and the programme was live, when the CM raised such questions, bringing embarrassment to the IPS officer.

Answering Mamata, the IPS officer said he investigated the complaints took proper action.