West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose. , Photo Credit: PTI
West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose said on 8 May that he would not remain silent if a constitutional crisis erupted in the state.
At a function at Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral residence at Jorasanko in north Kolkata, Bose said, “If there is a constitutional or legal crisis, I will not remain silent like Hamlet.”
While the governor has made similar remarks that he would not be a silent witness to the deterioration of law and order in the state in the past, the remarks during the day come in the wake of an increase in political violence in the state. Between April 27 and May 2, three BJP supporters were killed and a Trinamool Congress supporter was shot at Amdanga in North 24 Parganas during the day. Basanti in South 24 Parganas district is also on the boil since last 24 hours as clashes broke out between two factions of Trinamool Congress. Four Trinamool supporters were injured in the violence.
Leader of the Opposition Shubhendu Adhikari had said on several occasions that Governor Bose was not proactive on law and order issues like his predecessors Jagdeep Dhankhar and Gopal Krishna Gandhi. The governor had played an active role during the Ram Navami clashes and visited violence-hit Rishra in Hooghly district. The remarks come hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to reach West Bengal.
‘Venerable Chair’
Reacting to the governor’s remarks, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the governor’s chair is an “honorable chair” but has its own limitations.
Ms Banerjee asked the Governor to return the Bills passed by the Assembly in place of the Governor as the Chief Minister as Chancellor of the state’s universities.
In 2022, the West Bengal Assembly passed several bills to replace the governor with the chief minister as chancellor. The Raj Bhavan had not given assent to the Bills and did not even return them to the state government.
The chief minister and the Trinamool Congress government had earlier indicated that the decision to replace the governor as chancellor of state universities was a thing of the past soon after Mr Bose assumed the high office. During the day, Ms. Banerjee said that the system of state universities having chancellors works when there are fewer state universities; Under the rule of Trinamool Congress, such institutions have increased from 12 to 42.
After a brief period of amity, differences have emerged between the state government and the Raj Bhavan on a number of issues, including a letter to vice-chancellors of all state-run universities asking them to submit weekly reports to the Raj Bhavan. The state government had asked the governor to withdraw the letter.