Why Bengal Governor’s Show Of Bonhomie With Mamata Banerjee Is Wrong, As Is Bengal BJP’s Public Criticism Of The Governor

Kolkata’s Raj Bhawan is once again in the news, and for all the wrong reasons. Its current occupant--retired bureaucrat and Kerala BJP leader C.V Ananda Bose--is facing flak from leaders of his own party for getting too close to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. 

A number of BJP leaders, including national vice president Dilip Ghosh, leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikary and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta have publicly criticised Bose for his congenial ties with Mamata Banerjee. 

While Bengal BJP leaders have been uncomfortable with the growing bonhomie between the Trinamool chief and the Raj Bhawan, the spark for the pent-up discomfiture coming out in the open was provided by a ceremony at the gubernatorial mansion Thursday (26 January).

The Raj Bhawan hosted a haath-a-khori ceremony Wednesday, when Bengal celebrated Saraswati Puja, where he was initiated into learning Bangla. Haath-a-khori is a traditional ceremony among Bengali Hindus in which a child is initiated into learning by writing the first alphabet of the Bangla script. 

Bose, a Malayalee who had an illustrious career in the civil services and is credited with many landmark achievements, joined the BJP after retirement even though his involvement in party affairs has not been very deep. 

After moving into Kolkata’s Raj Bhawan in November last year, Bose struck an instant rapport with Mamata Banerjee, much to the dismay of Bengal BJP leaders who expected him to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Jagdeep Dhankar (who is now the country’s Vice President). 

Banerjee, after a meeting with him in December, described Bose as a “perfect gentleman”. “The Governor is so nice. He is the perfect gentleman. I hope there will be no more problems as his relationship with the state government is in perfect sync. The state government will get all the cooperation from the Governor, as things can be sorted out through discussions,” a gushing Mamata Banerjee told mediapersons. 

In stark contrast to the frequent run-ins between Dhankar and the state government, Bose has maintained cordial ties with Banerjee and her cabinet colleagues. A major battle between the Dhankar-occupied Raj Bhawan and the Trinamool government had erupted over appointment of vice-chancellors of state universities. Dhankar’s frequent tweets and statements to the media criticising the functioning of the state government had put the two on a collision course. 

Bose has charted an opposite path and has, so far, desisted from even an oblique comment on state matters. That has gladdened Banerjee and Trinamool leaders who have been profuse in their praise of Bose and have often contrasted him with Dhankar. 

While Dhankar was a favourite of Bengal BJP leaders, the Trinamool often labelled him as a ‘handmaiden’ of the saffron party and accused him of turning the Raj Bhawan into a ‘camp office of the BJP’. 

Wednesday’s ceremony in Raj Bhawan

The haath-a-khori ceremony at the Raj Bhawan came as the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back for state BJP leaders. 

Haath-a-khori literally translates into making a child hold a piece of chalk (khori) in his or her hand (haath) and making the child write the first alphabet of Bangla. This is a ceremonial initiation of a child into the formal learning process and is an integral part of the worship of Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of learning. 

Bose, it is learnt, had told Mamata Banerjee of his desire to learn to read and write Bangla. The chief minister, Raj Bhawan sources told Swarajya, suggested that Bose start learning Bangla formally after a haath-a-khori ceremony. 

It was reportedly on the chief minister’s directive that the state government identified a school student--Diyasinee Roy, a class III student of a Christian missionary school in Chandannagar near Kolkata--who demonstrated to Governor Bose how to write the first alphabet of Bangla script and how to pronounce the alphabet. 

Banerjee, for all practical purposes, presided over Wednesday’s ‘ceremony’ and was seen issuing directions to the Raj Bhawan staff. She gifted Bose a copy of Bengali primer ‘BarnaParichay’ that was written by Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. 

A number of Trinamool leaders attended the ceremony. The Raj Bhawan had also invited Suvendu Adhikary, but he did not attend stating that he had been allotted a seat in a back row behind even state government officers. 

Criticism by BJP leaders

BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh described the ceremony as a “drama”.

Ghosh said: “We know that haath-a-khori is done to introduce someone to the world of education. But how can this be organised for a learned person? He (Governor Bose) is an educated person. It does not behove a Governor to do such a drama. He is clearly guided by someone else. The post of a Governor has constitutional dignity. He should stay away from such frivolities. A person can learn multiple languages. But there is no need to organise an event for that”. 

Soon after the ceremony, Adhikary tweeted: “At a time when the image of the education department of the state government has been tarnished due to the gigantic ‘cash for jobs’ teacher recruitment scam and the former education minister, along with most of the important office bearers, is languishing in prison, the state government has cunningly orchestrated this event to wash off the stain”. 

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta termed the ceremony as “nothing but a gimmick”. Dasgupta said that Bose was “getting into a cosy relationship with the chief minister”. 

Dasgupta said: “He (Bose) has a special responsibility. I believe he should address some of these issues rather than get into some kind of cosy arrangements with the state administration and chief minister over release and translations of his books”. 

Other BJP leaders hinted that Bose wants to curry favour with Mamata Banerjee so that he is nominated to the Rajya Sabha by her. 

Bose’s bonhomie with Mamata Banerjee comes close on the heels of interim Governor La Ganesan’s questionable conduct. Ganesan, who took temporary charge of the office in July last year after Dhankar was elected Vice-President, had also struck a very close rapport with the chief minister. Ganesan drew widespread criticism for his conduct (read this).  

Why both Bose and Bengal BJP leaders are wrong

The Governor’s office carries a lot of responsibilities and the Governor must be seen as an impartial person who upholds the Constitution and ensures that the state government functions within the tenets of the Constitution. 

It is incumbent on a Governor to maintain a respectable distance from the chief minister and the state government. He cannot be perceived to be getting into a ‘cosy relationship’ with the chief minister. To use an adage, the Governor has to, like Caesar’s wife, be above suspicion.

While Dhankar, felt many, went overboard with his frequent criticism of the state government, Bose has chosen the other extreme of being too cordial with the Trinamool government that stands accused of many misdeeds. 

The Governor, say Bengal BJP leaders, ought to question the state government on the education scam and the largescale irregularities in the implementation of various welfare schemes and projects funded wholly or partially by the Union Government.

“At a time when the Trinamool government is mired in corruption and allegations of misdeeds are surfacing nearly every day, it is wrong for the Governor to be seen as being very friendly with the chief minister who presides over such a corrupt and inefficient government. His conduct raises suspicion about his role and his intentions,” a senior BJP leader who did not want to be named told Swarajya. 

But the BJP leaders, too, are wrong in criticising the Governor publicly. Public and open criticism of a person holding a Constitutional post, no matter what his conduct may be, is undesirable. 

Instead of such open criticism, the BJP leaders should have taken up the issue with the Union Government and apprised them of the Governor’s conduct. They could have easily impressed upon the Union Government, especially Union Home Minister Amt Shah, the need to caution the Governor. 

A word, or even a subtle hint, from the Union Government would have been enough to make Bose fall in line and maintain a distance from Mamata Banerjee. Bose, after all, was a seasoned bureaucrat and would know how to take a hint. 

The entire episode--the Bose-Banerjee bonhomie and the BJP’s criticism of the congeniality--has created an unnecessary controversy. While Bose should wake up to the ground realities in Bengal and distance himself from the Trinamool regime that is mired in corruption and worse, BJP leaders of Bengal should uphold the dignity of the Governor’s office and take their complaints silently to the Union Government. 

After all, the BJP is in power at the federal level and there is no reason why the Union Government will not take the complaints of state BJP leaders seriously. If Bengal’s BJP leaders can make out a robust case against Governor Bose’s conduct, the Union Government will surely act on their complaint. But all that has to be done behind closed doors and not openly in public.

Also read: Why Bengal interim governor Ganesan’s invitation to Mamata Banerjee and Stalin to a family event reeked of impropriety