Kolkata: Nearly 20 hours since West Bengal Governor C V Ananada Bose sent two sealed missives to the central and state governments, neither Raj Bhavan nor the state secretariat divulged details of the letters.
Bose sent two sealed letters to the Centre and the state government late Saturday night following an intense war of words between the two sides, amid a row over his appointing officiating vice-chancellors in universities.
The ruling Trinamool Congress on Sunday lashed out at the governor, accusing him of “deliberately adopting a confrontationist approach on behalf of the BJP”.
The saffron party hit back and accused the TMC of “humiliating the governor by attacking him for his efforts to clean up the mess in the state’s education system”.
State Education Minister Bratya Basu did not react to the sealed letters sent by the Raj Bhavan to the Centre and the state government.
However, minutes after Bose’s warning of a much bigger action at midnight, Basu had on Saturday reacted to the comment and mocked the governor by calling him the “new vampire in town”.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen alleged that the governor’s latest act of sending confidential letters stems from “his wish to be in the good books of the BJP with an eye on a plum posting in New Delhi as a reward”.
“The governor is destroying the state’s higher education sector by violating all rules, statutes and constitutional provisions. Despite the state pointing out the anomalies in his action, he appears nonchalant and has adopted a confrontationist stance because of the support of the BJP,” Sen said.
TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the governor’s penchant for becoming hyper-active at midnight hours requires notice.
“It is clear he is acting at someone’s behest and is not listening to anybody else,” he said.
Responding to the TMC’s allegations, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said that the governor was trying to clean up the “mess created by TMC in the higher education sector” in the last decade.
“He is working overtime to end the era of politicisation, intimidation and threat on campuses of state universities.
“The ruling party is humiliating the governor in the most unsavoury manner as it does not like his initiative for improving the education sector. It is not concerned about the fate of students who suffer due to the chaotic situation in several state universities which remain headless owing to the TMC’s blatant partisan policy to put its own candidates in the VC’s posts,” Majumdar told reporters.
The governor’s letter-writing exercise came after Basu accused him of trying to “destroy” the higher education system in the state and running a “puppet regime” in universities.
Bose had on Saturday warned of “much bigger action” at midnight in the backdrop of the state education minister’s severe criticism and attacks.
As the clock neared midnight a day before, a Raj Bhavan official said Bose had “signed two confidential sealed letters”, one for the state secretariat, Nabanna, and another for the Centre.
On the content of the letters, the official said that “it would be disclosed later”.
Incidentally, Bose signed the letters a couple of hours after holding an elaborate meeting with Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi at Raj Bhavan.
In the continuing war of words between the West Bengal government and the Raj Bhavan over the appointment of interim vice-chancellors in universities, Basu had on Friday accused the governor of trying to “destroy” the higher education system in the state.
The minister also charged the governor, who is the chancellor of state-run universities, with running a “puppet regime” in the varsities and threatening registrars not to hold meetings with the higher education department.
The West Bengal Educationists’ Forum had on Saturday described Bose’s comment on midnight action as “threats”.
“It is unfortunate to witness the chancellor issuing threats of staging a midnight drama of revenge against the educationists and the officials and functionaries of the state higher education department,” a statement issued by the forum said.
The governor, in his capacity as the chancellor of state-run universities, recently appointed interim vice-chancellors for eight varsities, including the prestigious Presidency University, MAKAUT and the University of Burdwan, a step which was severely criticised by the chief minister as a bid to interfere with the running of state-administered universities.
Sources said the interim vice-chancellors of eight other universities have also been finalised and appointment letters “will be issued soon”.
“I want universities in the state to be free of violence, free of corruption and be the best in India,” Bose had asserted recently to a barrage of criticism from the TMC.
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