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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Governor C.V. Ananda Bose.
Just days ahead of completing one year in office, West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has announced the decision to rename the North Gate of Raj Bhavan in Kolkata after Rabindranath Tagore as a mark of respect to the Nobel laureate. In a press statement on November 18, the Governor also impressed upon Visva-Bharati University to place plaques with Tagore’s name inscribed on them.
The Governor’s latest move comes amid a raging controversy at Visva-Bharati over plaques commemorating UNESCO’s heritage status to the university. The plaques were installed at different places on the campus and carried the names of then Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chancellor of the Central university. It led to a huge furore as they didn’t mention Tagore, the founder of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati. While it drew severe criticism from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Mr. Bose, too, criticised the inexplicable omission and seemed to be on the same side as the government, for a change.
In his one year in office since November 23, 2022, Mr. Bose’s engagement with the government has been one of ‘blow hot and blow cold’.
Neither warm nor cold
Amid the political flux in Bengal, the first year of his tenure has been different from his predecessors. Mr. Bose started off on a cordial note with the Chief Minister — a big departure from the relationship Ms. Banerjee shared with his predecessor and now Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar. So much so that some within the State BJP unit openly expressed their unhappiness over his appointment. However, things started to change soon with Mr. Bose often disagreeing with the government over a host of issues.
Several Bills passed by the West Bengal Assembly have been pending before the Raj Bhavan. This includes the Bills that are meant to replace the Governor with Chief Minister as Chancellor of State universities.
In August this year, the Chief Minister challenged Mr. Bose over pending Bills. “If you [Governor] have the guts, then sign the Bills passed by the Assembly which make the Chief Minister the chairperson or the chancellor (of State universities). Sign that Bill,” Ms. Banerjee said.
According to Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, 22 Bills were pending with the Raj Bhavan.
The Raj Bhavan responded by saying that no Bill was pending with it, barring those that are awaiting the President’s nod or are sub judice. The Governor also set up a new cell at Raj Bhavan for “coordination between the government and the Assembly”.
The State government and Raj Bhavan have also been at loggerheads over the issue of appointing interim Vice-Chancellors in the State-run universities.
The Governor had made the appointments without the consent of the State government. As the matter is being taken up by the Supreme Court, the academic community of the State has been kept on tenterhooks.
Pushed around, the Chief Minister threatened an ‘economic blockade’ of educational institutions if the Governor continues to appoint V-Cs of his choice.
Besides, Mr. Bose has often criticised the State for sporadic episodes of political violence, saying that unrest and corruption are the two major challenges for West Bengal. The Governor’s remarks on the law and order situation, particularly during the panchayat elections, came as a major embarrassment for the ruling establishment.
BJP’s discomfort
While the tension between the Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool Congress leadership is evident, the West Bengal BJP leadership is also left with a feeling of discomfort. BJP delegations visiting the Raj Bhavan too have sharply declined compared to the time when Mr. Dhankhar was in office. Several BJP MLAs, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, earlier expressed apprehensions that Mr. Bose is not as proactive as his predecessor.
The Governor’s assurance to the Trinamool Congress leadership that he would take up the matter of pending MGNREGS dues and other schemes with the Central government further complicated his equations with the BJP leaders. The Governor not only met a delegation led by Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee but also approached the Centre on the issue.
‘Own way of dealing’
Political observers believe that Mr. Bose has his own way of dealing with things and is unlikely to follow the established norms. “The Governor is guided by his own agenda. He is neither likely to champion the cause of the BJP as it was the case in the past, nor will he completely follow the principles laid by the Constitution for the office of Governor,” says Biswanath Chakraborty, a political observer.
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