Raj Bhavan should be and will be apolitical, will focus on art & culture: WB Governor Bose

Kolkata: After months of a bitter tussle between the Governor and West Bengal, the state's Governor CV Ananda Bose, changing his stance, said on Friday that “Raj Bhavan should be and will be apolitical and it will focus on art & culture."

The governor’s changed stance came to the fore after he unveiled a logo of ‘Kalakranti Mission’, an initiative dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore, and flagged off a bicycle rally. The governor said that the Raj Bhavan is and should be apolitical.

“Kalakranti Mission is an initiative dedicated to Rabindranath Tagore for the development of soft power, which is now highly regarded as a framework and avenue for promoting art, culture and heritage,” the Raj Bhawan sources said.


The state government and the governor have been at loggerheads for the last few months over varied issues -- appointment of the interim vice-chancellors of the state universities, Bose deciding to discharge the duties of VCs in various state universities where posts of VCs were vacant and also appointing a former judge as VC for the Rabindra Bharati University.

Speaking about the appointment of full-term Vice-Chancellors, Bose said he has already identified the members of the Search Committee as directed by the Supreme Court. “I have identified the members of the Search Committee to be nominated as per their directions.”

The Supreme Court has recently directed the Bengal government, Governor and the UGC to suggest three to five names for a court-appointed “search committee” to select full-term vice-chancellors for state universities in the state.