RN Ravi Appointed West Bengal Governor After CV Ananda Bose Resigns

R. N. Ravi, currently serving as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, has been appointed the new Governor of West Bengal following the resignation of C. V. Ananda Bose. The move is part of a broader administrative reshuffle in which nine states and Union Territories have been assigned new Governors and Lieutenant Governors.

With Ravi’s transfer, R. V. Arlekar, the Governor of Kerala, will hold additional charge as the Governor of Tamil Nadu. Both West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are politically significant states heading towards upcoming Assembly elections.

The appointment was first announced by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who criticised the Central government for making the decision without consulting the state government. In a post on X, Banerjee said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had informed her about the appointment but did not follow the established convention of consulting the state.

She stated that such unilateral decisions undermine the spirit of the Government of India’s federal structure and called on the Centre to respect the principles of cooperative federalism.

Like Bose in West Bengal, Ravi has frequently been at odds with the state government in Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. K. Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Their strained relationship became evident when Stalin and his ministers skipped the Governor’s Republic Day “At Home” reception earlier this year and attended a party event instead.

Since his appointment in 2021, Ravi’s confrontations with the Tamil Nadu government have spanned constitutional, legal and political issues. One of the most visible flashpoints occurred in the state Assembly, where he either walked out or refused to read the customary address prepared by the government.

The most recent instance was during the January winter session of the Assembly, when Ravi declined to read the speech, claiming it contained “misleading claims” and even an alleged insult to the National Anthem. Stalin criticised the move, calling it “childish.”

The Governor and the state government have also clashed over the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in state universities. As Chancellor, Ravi had issued notifications in September 2023 to form search committees for the posts but later withdrew them following suggestions from the Supreme Court of India to resolve the dispute.

Other areas of disagreement included policy matters, the premature release of prisoners and the medical entrance examination NEET.

The most significant conflict arose when Ravi withheld assent to several bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly. The state government challenged the move in the Supreme Court, which later ruled the Governor’s actions “illegal” and “arbitrary,” declaring that the bills would be deemed cleared from the date they were re-presented to him.

Ravi has also expressed ideological differences with the DMK leadership. He has argued that the narrative of a racial divide between Dravidians and Aryans was created during British rule to divide the country, attributing the theory to 19th-century missionary and linguist Robert Caldwell.

In response, Stalin had earlier written to Droupadi Murmu, urging the President to advise the Governor against engaging in political and ideological disputes with the elected state government.