May 21, 2026
Abhishek Banerjee speaks out against gag order on government employees
Trinamool Congress National General Secretary and Leader of the Party in Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday, May 21 vented pout against the gag order placed on government employees by the new BJP government through a circular.
The circular by the chief secretary, issued on Wednesday, May 20, placed, on “all employees of the Government of West Bengal, employees of Autonomous Bodies, Boards, Corporations, Undertakings and Educations Institutions which are funded wholly or substantially by the State Government and members of the All India Services engaged in connection with affairs of the State,” a “complete prohibition”, without prior sanction, on
1) participation in sponsored or privately produced media programmes,
2) direct or indirect communication of documents or information with the press,
3) editing, managing or writing articles in newspapers, periodicals or other publications or participation in radio broadcasts
4) adverse criticism of policies of the Central or state government through publications, broadcasts or utterances, and
5) publications, interactions, utterances, broadcasts or contributions in any media that might lead to the straining of relations of the state government with the central government or other state governments, or between the central government and foreign governments.
The national general secretary, in his post on X, wrote that the phrase “complete prohibition”, and especially its use throughout the circular, sounds “like a WARNING – not to protect governance, but to ENFORCE SILENCE” on employees of the Bengal government.
“Under @BJP4India’s remote-controlled governance, SILENCE IS NOW AN ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENT,” he went on.
He called the circular a “shocking circular” which is “not about discipline” but “about CURTAILING FREE EXPRESSION and SYSTEMATICALLY CHOKING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS to ensure absolute obedience to the masters sitting in Delhi.”
Abhishek Banerjee rightly distilled the implication of the whole circular into the short expression: “THINK AS YOU ARE TOLD. SPEAK ONLY WHEN PERMITTED.”
He ended his message saying, “when a government cannot tolerate criticism, it starts crushing dissent”, which shows “not [a government’s] strength” but its “STRANGULATION OF DEMOCRACY!”
