Bose effect: Bengal Governor mixes curveballs with moments of camaraderie

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.

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’.

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.