Kolkata's Government Residences Lie Vacant, New CM Must Decide on Colonial-Style Accommodations

Being the original capital of the British Empire, Kolkata boasts some of India’s oldest and grandest government residences. But unlike their counterparts in the rest of the country, West Bengal’s ministers have not enjoyed the luxury of living in these palatial bungalows in Alipore and Baliganj for over half a century. What should normally be ministerial residences are occupied by senior bureaucrats. The city does not even have an earmarked chief ministerial house. When the Communists came to power in 1977, Marxist ministers pointedly did not live in these relics of the Raj. And Mamata Banerjee, who wanted to emphasise her humble origins, continued this practice. BJP CM Suvendu Adhikari has to decide whether to reclaim the accommodations of colonial glory for politicians or settle for humbler abodes. He himself is likely to move into an irrigation department bungalow in Alipore. Adhikari has, however, indicated that he will transfer the secretariat back to the iconic Writers’ Building, renamed Mahakaran, once the seat of West Bengal’s state administration. In 2013, Banerjee abandoned the sprawling three-storey red-stone complex with exquisite Minton tile flooring, originally the central office of the East India Company and later the headquarters of the British government in India. The building is adorned with classical statues and ornate fixtures. Extensive repair work on the 250-year-old structure is required before the new government can move in. Champat Rai, the former general secretary of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, received barely a slap on the wrist, though he was responsible for overseeing donations to the Ram temple. The Ram trust agreed to accept his resignation only after recording, first, appreciation for his sacrifice for the Ram Temple movement while blaming the State Bank of India for oversight. Those puzzled by a lack of accountability are unfamiliar with the opaque operating style of RSS, where there is no clear-cut corporate chain of command. In the Sangh tradition, a pracharak’s age, loyalty and long years of service are much valued. Once an individual is well entrenched in the RSS, it is not easy to distance him from the organisation. A case in point is the VHP’s Pravin Togadia, whose erratic, irresponsible behaviour had infuriated even Narendra Modi as Gujarat CM. Despite being an embarrassment to the BJP, Togadia continued as the vice president of VHP International for many years and was in charge virtually after VHP president Ashok Singhal fell ill, even though Modi was by then PM. Togadia was removed only in 2018 after he was pressured into holding an election, which he lost. He quit the RSS and started his own organisation. Champat Rai, 79, a chemistry lecturer in a UP college, was jailed during the Emergency and later became an RSS pracharak. He was associated with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement in the 1990s, with Singhal as his mentor, and was respected for his legal knowledge of the case and for keeping meticulous records. Some feel that red flags should have been raised earlier. In 2021, the Opposition charged that the trust bought plots in Ayodhya for Rs 18.5 crore, though days earlier, an intermediary had purchased the very same land for Rs 2 crore. Visitors from Delhi who requested VIP darshan at the Ram temple were often put off by Rai’s arrogant, cranky behaviour. Vivek Aggarwal, IAS officer and ex director of the Financial Intelligence Unit, was appointed Vice President of the 40-member Financial Action Task Force (FATF) this month. India is preparing the ground for petitioning to put Pakistan back on the international FATF grey list alert for money laundering and for financing terrorism. Pakistan’s trade, investment and banking were impacted after India succeeded in getting the country listed on a financial alert from February 2012 to February 2015, and again from June 2018 to October 2022, compelling it to go through the motions of prosecuting terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed for fear of being fully black listed. This week, the NIA filed a detailed charge sheet against LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, establishing Pakistan’s role in the Pahalgam terror attack. Data retrieved from the terrorists’ phones is said to have established that LeT was providing the coordinates of the Baisaran meadow to the attackers. A rattled Pakistan, which is not a member of FATF, is fully relying on support from the USA, China and Saudi Arabia to block a potential Indian move. A new political trend could emerge in Maharashtra. In both warring factions of the NCP, a section of the party wants to simply merge with the BJP. In the NCP (AP), Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare are unhappy with Ajit Pawar’s immature son Parth attempting to take full charge of the party. In the NCP(SP), Supriya Sule and her father lean towards joining the Congress, while other party MPs prefer the BJP option.