Bratya Basu fires fresh salvo at Governor Bose

Speaking during a programme organised by the ruling Trinamool Congress’ teachers’ cell on Sunday, Basu said, “There is a poet in Raj Bhavan. But a poet needs to have some involvement with the masses. But here we have a poet who belongs to the king. We need to think whether we should stick with such a post which is like a white elephant. Someone is trying to keep the post alive which has no relevance in the present age.”

Talking about the appointment of interim vice-chancellors by the Governor, Basu said, “Some of these V-Cs are cosying up to the Governor. We will not threaten them and we will not tell them anything. But they should remember they will stay in the state. They should remember that the term of this poet may not be long.”

Later in the evening, Governor Bose held a virtual meeting with interim vice-chancellors of state universities, who were appointed by him, to discuss academic and administrative issues faced by the higher educational institutions. One of the V-Cs in attendance at the meeting told PTI that the Governor spoke about ways to run the institutions in the best interest of students. “He asked us to strengthen the anti-ragging committee in our respective universities, among other things… He also said that he would be available on phone for any advice,” another V-C said. A total of 22 interim V-Cs, appointed by Bose since May, attended the meeting, a Raj Bhavan source said.

The spat between Basu and Bose escalated earlier this month with the former calling the Governor a “vampire” following a “midnight action” warning. The back-and-forth war of words between the two began after Governor Bose, in his capacity as chancellor of state universities, appointed interim vice-chancellor to nearly a dozen varsities.

Referring to the education minister’s latest remark, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “His (Basu’s) remarks against the Governor are in poor taste and uncalled for. The Governor is trying to clean up the mess created by the state government.”

– With PTI inputs