Bengal Governor's Midnight Letters, And A "Vampire" Dig By Minister

Two confidential sealed letters, one sent to the state Secretariat and the other to the Centre, is the latest flashpoint between West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and state education minister Bratya Basu after the latter accused Mr Bose of trying to "destroy" the higher education system in the state and running a "puppet regime" in universities.

Following Mr Basu's strong allegations, Governor Bose had on Saturday warned of "midnight action". 

"Wait for the stroke of midnight today. You will see what is the action," Governor Bose said. 

As the clock approached midnight, two confidential and sealed letters were dispatched to their destinations, sparking a new twist in the ongoing feud between the two leaders. 

Governor Bose signed the letters shortly after a meeting with Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi at the Bengal Raj Bhavan. The meeting was not made public by either the state government or the Governor's office. 

Soon after Governor Bose's stern warning, Mr Basu took a veiled swipe at him, referring to him as the "new vampire in town" and warning people to "beware".

"See till midnight, see the action BEWARE! BEWARE! BEWARE! New Vampire in the town! Citizens please watch yourselves. Eagerly waiting for the "Rakkhas Prahar" (monster prahar), according to Indian Mythology!," Mr Basu posted on X, formerly on Twitter. 

In the latest round of the ongoing feud between the West Bengal government and the Raj Bhavan over the appointment of interim vice-chancellors in universities, 

Mr Basu accused the governor of deliberately undermining the state's higher education system. The minister also accused the governor, who is also the chancellor of state-run universities, of running a "puppet regime" in the universities and of using intimidation tactics to prevent registrars from meeting with the higher education department.

"The honourable governor wants to run a puppet regime by appointing people according to his whims to satisfy someone's ego. He is making a constant effort to dismantle the higher education system," Mr Basu said.

The governor recently appointed interim vice-chancellors for eight universities in Bengal, including Presidency University, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), and the University of Burdwan, a move that was met with heavy criticism from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused the Mr Bose of interfering with the running of state-run universities.