West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday said that CM Mamata Banerjee has “elevated” herself to the group of eminent statesmen and political leaders who were great writers, too. Bose mentioned several names — Kalam, Churchill, and Milton, who formed the distinguished group.
The St Xavier’s University Kolkata at its convocation awarded a DLitt (Honoris Causa) to Banerjee for her contributions to the development of higher education in West Bengal. Presiding over the function, Bose said that the honour being given to Banerjee is most deserved.
Invoking Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, Bose stated: “I see above me, I see around me, ancestral voices as Coleridge says in Kubla Khan, ancestral voices praising her, and this institution, praising this moment…
"Yes, this is an occasion where a deserving woman leader has been honoured with a DLitt. This is not for her political acumen. For her political acumen, she has received similar awards from the people’s university, earlier also. But this is a recognition of her pursuit of excellence in literature, in painting, in poetry,” the Governor said.
Governor Bose said that Banerjee is now among statesmen and political leaders who have graced the path of literature and writing. He mentioned Václav Havel (Czech president, a writer, poet, and novelist), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, APJ Abdul Kalam, and AB Vajpayee.
"These are all statesmen and politicians who were writers and we also have Winston Churchill, and we have Milton. We are very glad as people of West Bengal. We are very glad (that) in this distinguished league we have none other than West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” he said. “How did she get it? That is a question… she has earned it because of her pursuit of excellence in art and literature, as a painter, as a poet,” he added.
Governor Bose, through his proactive, and gentle approach, apparently, is diminishing the distance between the Raj Bhavan and the Mamata Banerjee-led government. The Raj Bhavan and the Trinamool-steered state administration were on several occasions seen to be talking in different tones on issues of administration during the tenure of Jagdeep Dhankhar, the former Bengal governor.