It was my conscious decision to resign as Bengal governor: CV Ananda Bose

Former West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Sunday described his resignation as a “conscious decision”, while suggesting that the real reasons behind his departure would remain safely locked away until what he called the “right time”.

If the moment appeared sudden to observers, Bose appeared keen to frame it as part of a carefully timed innings. Reflecting on his three-and-a-half years in Raj Bhavan, he reached for a cricketing metaphor — one that implied both accomplishment and an awareness that every innings, however steady, must eventually come to an end.

Speaking to reporters at Kolkata airport after returning from Delhi, Bose said he had submitted his resignation from Kolkata before leaving for the national capital. “I spent over 1,200 days in office. That’s equivalent to scoring 12 centuries on the cricket field,” he said. “The rules of the game include knowing when it ends.”

The former governor insisted that stepping down was entirely his own decision, though the explanation for it would have to wait. “I took a conscious decision to put in my papers, the reasons of which will remain confidential till the right time arrives,” Bose said, pushing back against suggestions that his exit had been abrupt.

“I was given enough opportunity to decide for myself what the right time to quit should be. I knew the day I assumed the office that time would come when I would have to vacate it,” he added.

His carefully measured remarks came a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee offered a rather different version of events. Banerjee alleged that Bose had been forced to step down under pressure from the BJP’s central leadership.

“I know what led to the sudden exit of the governor. He was threatened,” the Trinamool Congress chief said on Saturday. “Not everyone will allow Raj Bhavan to be converted into the BJP’s party office. They used the space for money distribution, throwing all Constitutional propriety to the winds.”

Asked to respond to the allegation, Bose chose restraint over rebuttal. “It would be inappropriate for a departing governor to comment on such matters under the current circumstances,” he said.

The same diplomatic caution appeared when Bose was asked about President Droupadi Murmu’s remarks a day earlier expressing concern over alleged protocol lapses during her visit to the state and the issue of tribal deprivation.

“The President is very experienced, balanced and an extremely dignified person,” Bose said. “She must have had her reasons for saying what she said. But I am no one to comment on what the President said.”

For now, Bose said he would vacate the Lok Bhavan (Raj Bhavan to most people still) premises by Monday, observing with characteristic understatement that transitions in office tend to follow a simple rule.

“It’s only natural that when someone new enters office, its previous occupant should exit,” he said.

Before leaving, however, Bose left one final marker of association with the state he briefly governed. Calling himself a “proud voter of Bengal”, he said he would return to cast his vote in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The declaration carries its own quiet mystery. A native of Kerala, Bose had shifted his voting base to West Bengal barely a week before submitting his resignation.

With PTI inputs