During his five-year tenure as governor of West Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi often locked horns with the state administration.
On Sunday, a 2,900-word message from Gandhi, published on the Raj Bhawan (governor’s house) website on Sunday, was strongly critical of the
political culture in the state.
The Maoists were not spared in his message. The 64-year-old former Indian Administrative Service officer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi said that the state would be on the brink of disaster if steps were not taken immediately to change mindsets.
“It is a matter of great regret that distrust between different political entities and personalities is disfiguring life in our state. We have to rectify this situation by changing our conditioned mind-sets,” he stated.
Gandhi pointed out that the choice before the state was not between “the wrong doing of one” and “counter wrong doing of another or the vengeance of one” and “return vendetta of another”.
“The choice has to be between chaos and civility, disorder and decorum,” he said.
“Unless all inter-party, inter-cadre or inter-supporter violence is halted, West Bengal will suffer irretrievable damage. No party should countenance the use of unauthorised arms,”he said.
Gandhi also criticised Maoist violence and found it “incompatible with a political democracy” and “repugnant”.
On Sunday, Gandhi hosted a tea party at the Raj Bhawan, where guests included Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee, economist Amlan Datta and former football player Pradip Banerjee.