West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Credit: PTI Photo
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Wednesday invited any citizen of the state to check the CCTV footage of the Raj Bhavan, but not the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kolkata Police, which launched a probe into allegations of molestation against him.
Almost a week after a woman lodged a complaint with the Kolkata Police accusing him of behaving inappropriately with her, the governor took to X to announce the launch of the 'Sach Ke Saamne' programme, inviting any citizen of West Bengal to send an email expressing interest in checking the CCTV footage of the ‘incident’ in Raj Bhavan.
He posted on the social media platform a statement from the Raj Bhavan, which declared that the CCTV footage could be “seen by any citizen of West Bengal – except politician Mamata Banerjee and her police for the stand they had taken,” which had since been in the public domain.
Bose had on Monday accused Banerjee of playing ‘dirty’ politics – for the first time attacking the supremo of the Trinamool Congress, which had moved to reap the political advantage of the allegation of the woman employee of the Raj Bhavan about the inappropriate behaviour of the governor. He had earlier also asked all employees of the Raj Bhavan not to cooperate with the Kolkata Police, which had sought the CCTV footage.
Banerjee and other leaders of the TMC have been targeting Bose over the allegations of the Raj Bhavan employee. The TMC supremo even referred to the allegations against the governor in election rallies and expressed shock, with her party questioning the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this.
Bose earlier not only dismissed the allegation against him as an “election ploy” by a political party but also asked the Raj Bhavan employees to ignore any communication from the Kolkata Police.
He cited Article 361 (2) and (3) of the Constitution of India, underlining that the President of India and the governor of any state enjoyed constitutional immunity from any criminal proceeding being instituted or continued against them.
Bose had several run-ins with the government led by Banerjee, including over the appointment of the vice-chancellors of the state universities and over the recent allegation of atrocities on women in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of the state by a local TMC leader.
A woman, who has been working as a contractual employee at the Raj Bhavan since 2019, accused the governor of touching her inappropriately and making untoward advances on April 24, when she had gone to meet him with her curriculum vitae as he had asked her to do. The woman alleged that she had been asked to meet the governor again on May 2, but she had got her supervisor to accompany her this time around. The governor, however, made the supervisor leave and again touched her inappropriately. She first went to the police outpost at the Raj Bhavan and was later taken to the Hare Street Police Station.
The woman lodged the complaint just a few hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Kolkata and drove to the Raj Bhavan to spend the night. He addressed three election rallies in the state on Friday. The Trinamool Congress, which has been in power in the state, immediately moved to reap the political advantage of the allegation by the woman. The party stated that the “sanctity of the Raj Bhavan” had been “tarnished”.