The country’s Vice President-in-waiting, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is a well-known name across the plains and hills of Bengal.
For three years now – after he took up Governor’s responsibilities in July 2019 – Governor Dhankhar has kept the Trinamool government on its toes with his tweets, video messages, and ever-interactive access to reporters, and politicians who came to him with grievances.
The Governor’s powers – usually a discussion restricted to academics – were seen exercised to the maximum extent in the public domain. So much so, that the state’s politicians began observing if the Raj Bhavan was exceedingly exerting beyond-constitutional powers on an elected government.
Governor Dhankhar questioned every administrative move, every document that concerned him, and questioned State’s top officials on issues he thought were not being tackled properly. The ruling party raised its concern with the Centre, on several occasions.
The BJP in Bengal, for all that was of its concern, had Governor Dhankhar turn to Delegations to Raj Bhavan became a routine affair. Realising the BJP’s strategy, the Trinamool too turned to Raj Bhavan. The tweets that followed the visits, however, showed that Governor Dhankhar did take note of the grievances, yet maintained a firm stand on what he considered “serious worrisome governance concerns”.
Governor Dhankhar’s independent stands on issues with political ramifications were often interpreted differently. The BJP in Bengal saw him as the custodian of the Constitution, but the Trinamool differed.
For the first time, perhaps, in recent memory, West Bengal seldom saw the Raj Bhavan and the state government talking in unison on anything that concerned the state. As the constitutional powers were exercised in Raj Bhavan, the Trinamool also began exploring the constitutional rights it had as an elected government. In the assembly, a bill was passed to replace the Governor with CM as chancellor of state universities.
The national television channels focused on West Bengal were able to draw two parallel narratives, Bengal offered, in the prime-time shows. There was what the Mamata government was saying, and also what the Raj Bhavan stated.
The leaders of the BJP in Bengal are overjoyed. There’s, however, an official update shared with the media, from the Trinamool: “This is to inform everyone that our honourable chairperson Smt Mamata Banerjee has called an important meeting of all AITC Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs to discuss the Party’s plan of action regarding the upcoming Parliament session and Vice-President elections.”
The meeting is to take place on July 21, at CM’s residence.