Days after describing him as “BJP cadre” and warning him against repeating “what he did in Tamil Nadu”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday welcomed newly sworn-in Governor R N Ravi with a pointed message: “Bengal loves those who love Bengal.”
Soon after he was administered the oath of office by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul at Lok Bhavan in Kolkata, Ravi walked up to the chief minister to greet her and introduced his wife.
Banerjee presented Ravi with the traditional Bengali ‘uttoriya’ (stole) and said: “Please see Bengal… Bengal loves those who love Bengal.”
Ravi described Kolkata as the country’s cultural capital and noted that it had served as the capital of India during British rule, adding that he would keep a close watch on developments.
In a post on X, he later posted, “I am immensely blessed and profoundly humbled to have the opportunity to serve the people of West Bengal, a great land that has been the spiritual, intellectual, and cultural capital of Bharat for several thousand years… During critical periods of foreign invasions and occupation, which systematically threatened our culture and identity, this land gave birth to numerous great persons and divine souls.”
The oath-taking ceremony at the Sardar Patel Unity Hall was attended by several senior officials and leaders, Speaker Biman Banerjee, Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, and Left Front chairman Biman Bose.
However, no senior BJP leader, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, was present at the event. Sources said that state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya and Adhikari were in Delhi to attend the party’s central leadership meeting on West Bengal Assembly elections due in a few weeks. BJP leader Anirban Ganguly represented the party at the oath-taking ceremony.
Last week, CM Banerjee had alleged that Bose was forced to resign. “Have you seen how C V Ananda Bose was removed? I know everything. He was threatened. They want to distribute money from Lok Bhavan. They want Lok Bhavan to be converted into a BJP party office. But everybody may not agree to Delhi’s whims and fancies,” Banerjee had alleged.
She had also claimed that she knew what Ravi did during his tenure as Tamil Nadu Governor. “I heard he harassed Stalin and his government. Every day, he called them. I heard that he had to face many comments from the Supreme Court. He is a cadre of the BJP. But remember, West Bengal is a different place. You may have done whatever you wanted in Tamil Nadu, but you can’t do that here,” Banerjee had warned Ravi.
Ravi’s tenure as Governor of Tamil Nadu since September 2021 was marked by a series of confrontations with the MK Stalin-led government, ranging from withholding assent to Bills, refusing to swear in MLAs, and delaying appointments of vice chancellors to state universities. In at least three cases since 2023, the state approached the Supreme Court against the Governor’s actions or inaction.
Ravi, the former Deputy National Security Adviser, was appointed the 22nd Governor of West Bengal following the resignation of his predecessor CV Ananda Bose on March 5. He had earlier served as Governor of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Tamil Nadu.