War of words intensifies after Raj Bhavan arms claim is rejected

West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose was reported on Sunday to have dismissed Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee’s allegation that arms were being distributed from Raj Bhavan. The claim was described as baseless, and a challenge was issued to the MP to verify it, with the accusation being compared to “a blind man searching in the dark for a black cat that is not there.”

Raj Bhavan was ordered to be opened to the public, and citizens, media, and civil society members were allowed entry to examine whether weapons were stored there. Transparency was said to have been encouraged to dispel any suspicion. Concerns were raised by the Governor regarding the implications of Banerjee’s remarks, as the allegation was said to cast doubt on the Kolkata Police and suggest either incompetence or complicity in the supposed smuggling of arms. Questions were reportedly posed about whether the charge signalled internal TMC tensions or a lack of confidence in the state’s law-enforcement machinery.

An ultimatum was issued to Banerjee, who was asked to apologise to the people of West Bengal or face legal action. His earlier claim that BJP-linked individuals were being sheltered in Raj Bhavan and armed to attack TMC workers was noted to have intensified political tensions and strained ties between the government and the Governor.

The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was also referenced, with the process being defended by the Governor as a measure to restore electoral integrity. The Election Commission confirmed that over 48 crore SIR forms had been delivered across states including West Bengal, even as concerns were expressed by sex workers in Kolkata’s Sonagachi area about potential exclusion due to lack of documentation.

The dispute revived attention to earlier controversies involving the Governor. A molestation complaint filed by a contractual Raj Bhavan employee had been denied by him as an engineered narrative, and an internal inquiry was said to have cast doubt on the allegation, though the findings were rejected by the TMC. Article 361 immunity was invoked by the Governor, and the complainant has since taken the matter to the Supreme Court. A defamation suit filed by the Governor against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee resulted in a temporary High Court restraint on potentially defamatory remarks, further heightening tensions.

Past accusations of administrative interference were also recalled, with senior officials said to have been criticised by the Governor in official correspondence. These cumulative disputes contributed to an atmosphere of confrontation, within which the opening of Raj Bhavan was interpreted as an attempt to reinforce transparency amid ongoing political conflict and scrutiny of electoral procedures.