The Raj Bhavan in Kolkata has witnessed many acrimonious events play out between the elected state government and the Governor. Verbal duels between former governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and chief minister Mamata Banerjee were too frequent as were disagreements over decisions, some of which were made public through letters and open confrontation.
Late on Thursday, the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata was back in the news, for all wrong reasons. An employee has accused West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose of molestation, an allegation he has vehemently denied.
The claim comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the state. The PM is scheduled to be hosted at the Governor’s residence as per protocol.
The allegation has further strained ties between the state government and Raj Bhavan. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has dubbed it as “shameful” and accused Bose of having maligned his position to “torture a woman”.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has predictably rubbished the allegation and called it a political vendetta. Bose is a former bureaucrat and was appointed Governor in November 2022.
BJP leader Dilip Ghosh criticised the TMC and said, “This is nothing new. This is TMC’s politics. I don’t know how low they will stoop.”
HT has reported that the woman, a contractual staffer at the Raj Bhavan, told the police that the Governor “molested her at least twice in his chamber since April 24.”
In a statement issued by Raj Bhavan, Bose said, “Truth shall triumph. I refuse to be cowed down by engineered narratives. If anybody wants some election benefits by maligning me, God bless them. But they cannot stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal…”
Authorities at the Raj Bhavan have also barred the police from conducting any investigation.
The friction between the state government and the Governor came to light when Bose’s proposal to create posts of ‘student vice-chancellors’ from among extraordinary meritorious students at universities was opposed by the state education department. This was followed by the state protesting the Governor’s decision to appoint interim vice-chancellors for 11 state universities. After the government stopped payment of allowances and other financial entitlements to them, the issue reached the Calcutta high court, which held the appointments as valid.
The state government’s relationship with Dhankhar was also marked by acrimony. There were frequent tussles over issues related to administration, law and order, with the governor claiming his authority was being undermined.
In 2020, after one such back and forth between Raj Bhavan and the CMO, Dhankhar shot off a 14-page letter to Banerjee, accusing her of having “abjectly failed” in combating the crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic. The CM retorted, “…You appear to have forgotten that I am an elected chief minister of a proud Indian state. You also seem to have forgotten that you are a nominated Governor…”
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