WB seems headed for new round of Raj Bhavan-state secretariat battles

Kolkata, Feb 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) It was a matter of just seven days that the rosy picture of Raj Bhavan-State Secretariat bonhomie in West Bengal changed into friction between the two institutions.

Since the time CV Ananda Bose took charge as the new governor of the state in the closing quarter of the last year, the people had got accustomed to expressions of mutual respect and courtesy between the Governor House and the state government. Bose's 'hate khori' (festival for beginning of learning as per Hindu rituals) in the Bengali language with chief minister Mamata Banerjee as the chief guest and the subsequent accolades showered by the Governor on the chief minister started making the people of the state believe that the days of constant spats between the two institutions, which were a regular feature during the tenure of Bose's predecessor and current Indian Vice- President Jagdeep Dhankhar, were finally over.

The BJP's state leadership, especially the Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari, was visibly unhappy with this growing closeness. However, the administrative parleys between Raj Bhavan and the Secretariat were running smoothly.

However, a hint of a possible change in the Raj Bhavan- Secretariat equation surfaced on February 11 when after a long meeting with the Governor, the state BJP president and party Lok Sabha member Sukanta Majumdar gave a media statement that after being apprised by him about the situation in the state regarding panchayat polls, the Governor has assured of taking all possible steps to ensure free and fair polls.

While the Trinamool Congress leaders were describing Majumdar's statements as exaggerated, came a statement from Raj Bhavan. In the statement Bose seconded Majumdar's claims of not tolerating poll-related violence. At the same time, the governor's statement made a reference to the practice of appointing vice-chancellors in certain state universities by search committees without any representative from the University Grants Commission as illegal.

While political observers and the people could understand the indication of changed equations, information surfaced a couple of hours later the same evening that Raj Bhavan had dropped a request to the Secretariat for replacement of Bose's Principal Secretary Nandini Chakroborty.

It surfaced that the replacement request was because of an alleged attempt by Chakroborty to mislead the Secretariat about the Governor's wish to have his own advisory council of retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers from other states.

After dilly-dallying over the replacement of Chakroborty for some days, finally on February 15, the state personnel & administrative reforms department transferred Chakroborty without naming her replacement. However, the controversy continued as Raj Bhavan sent a second request to the Secretariat to initiate proceedings against Chakroborty under the All India Service Rules for misleading the state government about Raj Bhavan.

However, Trinamool Congress leaders like party Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen and more specially the party's state general secretary Kunal Ghosh began firing salvos at the governor. While both claimed that the tone of the party towards the governor will change if the latter adopts a path of confrontation, Ghosh said that the manner of Chakroborty's ouster was an insult to a Bengali bureaucrat who is a woman.

According to political analyst Rajagopal Dhar Chakraborty the developments so far have been within the administrative protocol between the Governor and the state government.

"I recall that immediately after taking over the chair of Governor, CV Ananda Bose said that his relationship with the state government will be more administrative and protocol driven. He did that exactly in this case by putting a formal request to the state secretariat to replace his principal secretary. He neither issued a Twitter message on this count nor did any media briefing on the matter. My personal feeling is that since the Governor remained within his administrative protocol, despite initial dilly-dallying the state government transferred Chakroborty after three days. So, till now all parties concerned are following the administrative protocol. Now it is to be seen whether the state government adheres to the second request from the Governor House of initiating proceedings against Chakraborty under the All India Service Rules," he said.

Political observer Arundhati Mukherjee feels that whether the Raj Bhavan-State Secretariat tiff in the coming days will take a murkier turn or not will be determined by two factors. "As we heard the Governor is planning to have his own advisory council by inducting retired IAS and IPS officers from other states. Now who would be the members of the advisory council and how would they be operating in the coming days will to a great extent determine the future approach of the Governor and the counter-approach of the state government and the ruling party.

"Secondly, the evolving equations between the Union government and the state government, or to be more precise between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, would be a determining factor of the Governor House-State Secretariat relations. The forthcoming panchayat elections in the state this year will be worth keeping an eye on in this count. A rural civic body polls marked by a bloodbath will surely make relations between the Union and state governments bitter, which might again prompt the Governor to react to the state's ruling party," she said.

West Bengal has a long history of Governor House-state government spats which started as early as 1967, when then Chief Minister Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee-led United Front government was dismissed following the recommendation of then Governor Dharma Vira.

In 1969 the United Front government returned to power with Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee again as the Chief Minister. During the budget session of the assembly Dharma Vira skipped reading out that portion of the written speech provided by the state government which said that the Governor unethically dismissed the earlier United Front government in 1967. Dharma Vira's tiff with the- then state government continued till the end of his term.

Again during the term of Gopal Krishna Gandhi the tussle between Governor House and the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led seventh Left Front government, over the political violence at Nandigram resulted in a war of statements between the two sides.

The bitterness reached the highest level during the tenure of Jagdeep Dhankhar as the governor. On the one hand, he issued regular Twitter messages and made media statements condemning the state government and the ruling party. On the other hand, the ruling party leaders including the chief minister Mamata Banerjee regularly attacked him. At one point of time the chief minister even blocked the Governor on her Twitter handle.

Source: IANS