On July 30, 2019, when Jagdeep Dhankhar visited the premises of the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata to take over as the 27th Governor of West Bengal from his predecessor and aged Kesari Nath Tripathi, political observers had no idea of the level of political struggle. Which two highest offices of the state will be functioning in the next three years?
The Raj Bhavan and Nabanna, the state secretariat, which houses Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s office, have at times been at political and administrative loggerheads, for bringing about a constitutional crisis in Bengal.
Politically, the time was more than interesting when Governor Dhankhar assumed office. This was Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s second consecutive term as chief minister. But his party suffered a serious setback in the general elections held a few months back, in which the BJP snatched 18 of the 42 seats it was to grab in the state. This gave the ruling Trinamool a small advantage of only four additional seats and caused considerable unease from the BJP, which had well and truly emerged as the primary challenger to the state’s ruling system.
A “rude” Raj Bhavan that posed an “obstacle to state administration” was the last thing Banerjee would have expected at this point had she and her party known that she had won, with state elections due in less than two months. had cut for himself. years.
But the curve goes right by the word nose-dive itself. Perhaps for the first time in the history of Bengal, the Raj Bhavan emerged as an outspoken and outspoken branch of state governance, which began to publicly question its performance. Mamata Banerjee Administration.
While Trinamool leaders began attacking Governor Dhankhar for “his indiscretion as a nominated and formal person” which was allegedly in violation of the constitutional powers vested in him, the latter not only attacked mainstream media outlets Rather, he criticized himself on social media as well. public. In fact, Governor Dhankhar has 439K followers on his Twitter handle and remains one of the most active places on social media when it comes to politics and administration in Bengal.
His deep penetration as a practitioner of law and his experience in politics naturally gave Governor Dhankhar the upper hand in dealing with those allegations, rather than confronting him with confidence. But despite this, it seems he has failed to dispel the notion that he has been repeatedly accused of being a “BJP ka man”.
There have been innumerable occasions in the past three years when verbal disputes between the Governor and the Chief Minister (and his ministers, MPs and MLAs) have come to the fore in public and have reached new levels. On more than one occasion, Banerjee wrote to Governor Dhankhar, alleging serious interference in the state administration beyond his constitutional brief, to be answered only by long replies in defense of his position and more.
On his part, the governor has also repeatedly alleged “unfair treatment” of his chair by senior state government officials and political leaders of the ruling camp and even “insulted” him from time to time. of showering”. The drama over the governor’s alleged “insult” over his seat position at the Durga Puja carnival in October 2019 and the controversy that erupted in December that year after he addressed the media on the footpath outside the campus and escorted himself out of the assembly gates were some of the It’s the same. Despite the relationship between the two high officials of the state deteriorating from bad to worse, the state continues to witness several unprecedented developments.
The dispute between high officials during Governor Dhankhar’s tenure, in fact, up to the Speaker of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, Biman Banerjee, on several occasions including over “pending bills in the Raj Bhavan” and the latter accusing the former of “trying”. was extended. To use the assembly premises for political interests”. In fact, acting on an apparent typographical error on the part of the assembly offices, Governor Dhankhar called the assembly session at 2 pm instead of 2 pm in February this year, leaving the Speaker’s face red and his office rectifying the notice. Scam for.
Governor Dhankhar’s constant cries over the law and order situation in the state (especially after allegations of post-poll violence), against “a democracy in the ICU”, alleged corruption and inefficiency in the administration and “appeasement of a particular community”. There is no doubt against them. Mamata continued to be a source of irritation for Banerjee, who filed official complaints against Governor Dhankhar, both in writing and during her one-on-one meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In its latest moves, the Bengal government passed two bills in the recently concluded monsoon session of the Assembly, where it removed the governor as ex-officio chancellor of state-run universities and as a visitor to private universities in Bengal and changed them. Chief Minister and State education Minister respectively.
Presently and ironically, both the Bills await the assent of the Governor before being enacted as laws.
However, the state’s primary opposition BJP has repeatedly sought recourse to the governor’s office for issues in which his intervention was sought. Delegations led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, BJP state presidents Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar, and marching on their behalf to the Raj Bhavan and Governor Dhankhar, followed them up with tweets and formal letters and summons to the government, making it a routine affair. What has happened in the political mosaic of Kolkata in the last three years.
In one of his early interviews to this correspondent in 2019, Governor Dhankhar had said: “I am not an RSS man like Mamata Banerjee, but I have no hesitation in saying that after being one of the greatest will be happy with organization this world has seen”.
Governor Dhankhar is being nominated as the BJP’s vice-presidential candidate, of course the leaders of the Trinamool and other opposition parties have claimed to classify him as a “BJP man”, but there is no doubt about it. That they will take a sigh of relief even to leave the kingdom to them. Building.
But the closure of one war front can only mean the opening of another. For the 2024 general elections, the Trinamool Congress has retained a considerable stake in the Rajya Sabha. And it may be in that destination that party members may meet a president whom they would not be eager to meet.
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