A political storm intensified in West Bengal on Monday after Governor C.V. Ananda Bose abruptly cut short his North Bengal visit to personally lead a live-broadcast combing search of the Raj Bhavan premises.
The move came after allegations by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Kalyan Banerjee, who claimed to reporters in Sreerampore.that weapons and criminals were being “sheltered” inside the premises.
The search operation — described by administrative officials as a first for the Raj Bhavan — involved a joint team comprising Kolkata Police, the Raj Bhavan Police Outpost, CRPF, the Bomb Squad and the Dog Squad. The entire building was evacuated for safety, and Disaster Management and Civil Defence teams were also present, conducting firefighting drills.
“This was required since I want to establish that the accusation made against me is baseless and false. I will certainly take legal action against (Banerjee),” said the Governor. In response, the TMC MP said, “Will anyone keep bombs when he is searching the place? It’s a childish act. His numbers have gone down before Amit Shah. Why the CRPF? He should have taken the FBI. The more he does this, the more opportunity we have to act against him.Let him write to the Lok Sabha. There is no discussion in Parliament about Raj Bhavan, now it will help initiate a discussion on it…I am ready to go to jail 50 times for speaking against someone like him.”
The crisis erupted over the weekend after Governor Bose publicly supported the Special Intensified Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, stressing the need for elections “based on the ballot, not the bullet,” and calling for curbs on alleged violence and corruption in the state.
On Saturday, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee launched a sharp attack, accusing the Governor of aiding criminals. “First, tell the Governor not to shelter the BJP’s criminals in Raj Bhavan. He is keeping offenders there, giving them guns and bombs, and telling them to attack Trinamool workers. Let him stop this first,” he said, calling Bose an “incompetent governor” and a “BJP-servant governor.”
The Raj Bhavan issued a statement late Saturday rebutting the claims and challenging Banerjee to visit the premises on Sunday with up to 100 members of civil society and the media to verify whether any arms or ammunition were stocked. It said he should apologise or face prosecution for hate speech if the allegations were proven false.
On Monday morning, the Governor’s office announced that Bose was returning immediately from Siliguri to oversee a “joint combing search” of the entire Raj Bhavan building and premises, to be led by him. The Governor joined the operation in the afternoon.
The action marks a fresh escalation in the long-standing tension between the Raj Bhavan and Nabanna (the state secretariat), which has deepened over their differing positions on the pre-election voter list amendment. While Governor Bose initially shared a cordial relationship with the state government, the ties have since soured. A major ongoing flashpoint is the appointment of interim Vice-Chancellors to state universities, with the Governor making appointments that the state government has objected to, alleging a lack of consultation and “dictatorial practices.”