Two months after assuming workplace because the Governor of West Bengal, CV Ananda Bose, whose mom tongue is Malayalam, obtained his first Bengali language lesson via a ‘hatekori’ ceremony from his three youngsters in Raj Bhawan on January 26, 2023, within the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The age-old Hatehori custom, wherein youngsters first study the Bengali alphabet, was accompanied by a present from Banerjee: Varnaparichai, an introductory guide on Bengali written by nineteenth century social reformer and educator Iswarchandra Vidyasagar.
Bose had stated initially of his time period that he would act as a “conduit for cooperation”, however this early jovial perspective didn’t final lengthy.
Following former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar’s checkered tenure as West Bengal governor, Bose’s time within the Raj Bhawan was additionally marked by battle with the Trinamool Congress-led state authorities and the ups and downs of his administration. Relationship with Banerjee.
Earlier than changing into Governor of Bengal, Bose accomplished his education in Kerala, did his PhD from BITS, Pilani, and was a Fellow of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nationwide Academy of Public Administration, Mussoorie. His father Vasudevan Nar was a freedom fighter who fought alongside Subhas Chandra Bose, named after Ananda Bose.
Bose began his profession as a 1977 batch IAS officer within the Kerala cadre and held a number of administrative roles within the state and the Heart, together with schooling, forest and atmosphere, and labor departments. He additionally served as principal secretary to Congress veteran late Okay Karunakaran throughout his tenure as Kerala CM.
Forward of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bose formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Celebration. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, he was tasked by the Federal Ministry of Labor to develop an motion plan for the welfare of migrant employees. In November 2022, Mr. Bose was appointed Governor of West Bengal.
The primary main standoff started in June 2023, when Bose appointed interim vice-chancellors to 11 state universities with out consulting the TMC authorities. The problem was taken to the Supreme Courtroom by the state authorities, which intervened and broke the deadlock by organising a variety committee headed by former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit to supervise the appointment of vice-chancellors.
In June 2023, simply forward of the panchayat elections within the state, the governor arrange a ‘peace room’ within the Raj Bhawan to register complaints concerning ballot violence. Mr Bose, who describes himself because the “Floor Zero Governor”, additionally made impromptu visits to rural areas hit by ballot violence, fueling opposition claims of irregularities and insufficient deployment of troops, whereas drawing accusations from the TMC of “interfering within the election course of”.
After the violence in these panchayat polls, Bose even met Union House Minister Amit Shah. “The darkest hour is simply earlier than daybreak. There may be at all times mild on the finish of the tunnel. The one message I obtained right this moment is, ‘If winter comes, will spring be a lot delayed? Good issues will occur in a number of days,'” Bose informed the media after the assembly.
Across the similar time, in July 2023, Bose additionally ordered an investigation into former North Bengal College Vice-Chancellor Om Prakash Mishra for alleged misconduct throughout Mishra’s tenure. By the way, Mr. Mishra had turn into one of many central figures within the agitation towards Mr. Bose after appointing an interim deputy prime minister with out consulting the federal government in June of the identical 12 months. In response, just some weeks later, the TMC authorities inducted Mishra into the chief council of North Bengal College.
In August 2023, Bose had incurred the wrath of the TMC for refusing to present assent to as many as 19 payments handed by the Governor within the Meeting. Nonetheless, after assembly Banerjee, Bose later cleared many of those payments, which subsequently created political controversy in Bengal.
In Might 2024, Bose discovered himself on the middle of a recent controversy after a feminine Raj Bhawan worker accused the governor of sexual harassment. Mr Bose denied the allegations and claimed it was a “constructed narrative” geared toward “electoral beneficial properties” throughout the 2024 parliamentary election marketing campaign. After the allegations got here to mild, Raj Bhawan barred Kolkata Police from coming into the premises.
Nonetheless, no prison proceedings had been initiated towards Bose throughout his time period because the governor has immunity beneath Article 361 of the Structure. The TMC held a protest march in Kolkata following the incident, and Banerjee even questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was scheduled to go to the Raj Bhavan simply hours after the allegations got here to mild.
Nonetheless, Bose filed a defamation go well with towards the CM within the Calcutta Excessive Courtroom after Banerjee stated she felt it was unsafe for ladies to “go to the Raj Bhawan”.
In September 2024, the difficulty of girls’s security grew to become one other level of competition between Bose and the TMC authorities following the rape and homicide of a junior physician inside Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical School and Hospital. Amid widespread anger and protests over the incident, Mr Bose reacted strongly, calling for a boycott of the industrial and calling it “Girl Macbeth”.
In November 2025, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee launched a fierce assault towards Governor Bose, accusing him of “hiding Bharatiya Janata Celebration criminals within the Raj Bhawan”, “giving them weapons and bombs and directing them to assault Trinamool employees”. Bose then personally carried out a radical search of the Raj Bhawan premises on stay TV, after which the governor’s workplace lodged a police criticism towards Kalyan Banerjee.
The battle got here to mild throughout the Election Fee’s controversial Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, which Bose supported whereas the TMC has overtly attacked the Bharatiya Janata Celebration and the ballot physique over the alleged deletion of professional voters. Nonetheless, after CM Banerjee expressed concern over the alleged suicide of a pollster working for SIR, Bose stated the CM’s “considerations ought to be thought-about intimately and totally”.
In late November 2025, as he celebrated his third 12 months as governor, Bose put aside the longstanding feud between the governorship and the state’s ruling celebration. Bose spoke fondly of his experiences in Bengal, describing his time working within the state as “superb” and expressing his want to see extra of rural Bengal.
“I’ll dedicate myself to serving the individuals of Bengal, particularly the kids, the brand new technology, the aged and all sections of the society. Within the subsequent two years of my keep right here, I’ll positively spend extra time with the village individuals. The gates of Raj Bhawan shall be open for the individuals. My expertise within the state has been superb. There have been ups and downs in my relationship with the political administration, however that’s a part of democracy,” Bose stated.
On Thursday, Bose resigned because the Bengal governor, citing “poor well being”, weeks forward of the state meeting elections. In response to central authorities officers, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi will take over as his successor.
