Will not remain silent in case of constitutional crisis in Bengal: Governor

Kolkata, May 8 West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday gave a latent warning to the state government after he said that he will not remain silent in case there is a constitutional crisis in the state.

He also referred to the legendary play of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. "If there is a constitutional or legal crisis, I will not remain silent like Hamlet," the Governor said while attending a function at the ancestral residence of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Jorasanko in North Kolkata on Monday, a day before when the entire country will be celebrating the birth anniversary of the Nobel Laureate Indian poet, writer and educationist.

The governor's observation came after the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) vice-chairman Arun Halder met him at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday afternoon. Halder sought the latter's permission to summon and question the chief secretary and the director general of police in connection with the recent killing of a youth in police firing at Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal.

In the meeting Haldar also complained to the government about the alleged noncooperation that the NCSC team was facing from the state administration while coming for field inspections in the state. Haldar informed that the Governor assured him that he will speak to the chief minister, chief secretary and the state police director general to resolve the lack of coordination on this count.

Initially, after taking over the Governor last year, the relationship between the Governor House and State Secretariat was quite amicable. However, as days passed by the differences started surfacing between the two institutions on many issues like recruitment of vice- chancellors in state universities, personal slanders against a judge of the Calcutta High Court and the recent clashes over Ram Navami in certain pockets of West Bengal, among others.

The state government also expressed severe exceptions to the Governor's recent visits to the different state universities without informing the state secretariat in advance. In such a situation, political observers feel, the Governor's fresh caution of not remaining silent in case of constitutional crisis in the state might open another round of tussle between Raj Bhavan and State Secretariat.