NEW GOVERNOR, NEW ROWS

A stormy three years it had been, from August 2019 to July 2022, when Jagdeep Dhankhar, now India’s vice president, served as governor of West Bengal. Scarcely a week passed without Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool Congress government sniping at each other

- Romita Datta

Dhankhar said his frequent travels in the state to assess the ground situation and critical statements thereafter were but a fulfilment of his constitutional duty; the TMC government accused him of gross interference. Thus, when a new governor took over in November 2022, there was expectation that ties would improve with Raj Bhavan. Indeed, things went swimmingly well at first with the soft-spoken C.V. Ananda Bose. A retired IAS officer who joined the BJP in 2019, Bose seemed to enjoy genuine warmth with chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “The governor is so nice…I think there won’t be any more problems,” Mamata had said at Bose’s haate khori ceremony of learning the Bengali alphabet at Saraswati Puja on January 26. Bose, too, was effusive in praising Mamata. The state BJP, used to dropping in on Dhankhar frequently to post allegations against the TMC, was taken aback at the thickening bonhomie. They need not have worried.