West Bengal, a state politically opposed to the Centre, has once again highlighted the importance of the governorship or the lack of it. The Raj Bhavan has been witnessing tumultuous scenes ever since Jaideep Dhankar resigned and got elected as the vice-president of India. The governor of Manipur, Thiru La. Ganesan, was appointed as the interim governor of West Bengal. He was soon relieved of the additional charge of West Bengal, ostensibly for inviting Mamata to his home in Chennai to celebrate Ganesan’s brother’s birthday.
The new Governor, Sri C.V. Ananda Bose, barely a few weeks old in his job, seemed overwhelmed by Mamata’s grace and stature (!) and praised her to no end. The uncharacteristic eulogy began on Republic Day, which fell on Basant Panchami Day. The governor pulled a Joy Bangla and made a big deal out of learning the Bengali alphabets, hogging the spotlight. The governor was urgently summoned by an apparently peeved vice-president, Jaideep Dhankar, to say whatever; the meeting, though, did not seem to have had any impact on the governor.
On another occasion, while the CM was being conferred an honorary D.Litt., by a private university, the governor compared her literary skills to those of Milton and Churchill and seemed to be still charmed by her. Not everyone was amused by the governor’s all-out and extravagant praises, at least not the leader of the opposition party in West Bengal. The LoP of the West Bengal Assembly came and met the governor and seemed to have fumed at the BJP government’s recommended former bureaucrat and now governor. After all, it is usually taken for granted that their party must be kept in good humour and not their party’s bête noire, the CM of West Bengal. The state opposition felt that the governor must change his attitude and no peace overtures will be counterproductive for the BJP.
The collateral damage was seen yesterday when the governor supposedly demanded the unceremonious removal of his principal secretary, who was a distinguished and proven officer from the elite Indian Administrative Services. The ‘khela hobe,” ‘game will be,’ seems to have begun just now, which is surely going to derail the good-natured governor, as admitted by one and all. The state has responded positively to the present governor’s overtures, retaining him as chancellor, despite demands for the governor’s removal as chancellor of state-run universities during Dhankar’s tenure.
The notion that a governor is expected to act villainously in opposition-ruled states must change. Then comes the greater question: Is the post of governor relevant in a democracy? No, only if democracy is true and responsible!
What is appalling is the LoP going public and expressing his happiness over the removal of the principal secretary to the governor, whom he labelled as the CM’s protégé. That was crass!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
