Not more than three months ago, CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose had lambasted Gandhi, saying “the post of the Governor should be abolished”. On Sunday, as he brokered a truce between the Left Front Government and Mamata, that tune had changed. “We are happy with the talks chaired by the Governor,” Bose was heard saying during the dialogue mediated by Gandhi.

While Gandhi and the CPI(M) have shared a rocky relationship for more than a year now — since the Governor’s sharp reaction over the March 14 police firing in Nandigram that left more than a dozen dead — the CPI(M) agreed to his role as a mediator after having failed to get through to Mamata.

Since Mamata began her sit-in at Singur on August 24, several top CPI(M) leaders, including Jyoti Basu, had appealed to her to come to the negotiating table. However, the Trinamool leader couldn’t afford to be seen as meeting halfway a party she lives to oppose. Governor Gandhi stepped in to bridge the gap.

The CPI(M) too was veering around to the idea of talks as it didn’t relish the idea of Mamata’s agitation dragging, giving her an opportunity to project herself as the real champion of West Bengal farmers.

On August 29, Gandhi first wrote to Mamata, urging that the deadlock over the Tata car project be resolved through talks, with a copy of the letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. While Mamata reacted positively the next day, Bhattacharjee kept silent.

The Governor then called up the Chief Minister, offering to mediate the talks with Mamata himself.

This broke the ice between the two a year after Nandigram. At the time, the CPI(M) had openly dubbed the Governor’s role as politically motivated and accused him of helping the Trinamool Congress. Hardly a day went by without a leader of the party attacking him. At the end of March 2008, at the CPI(M) Coimbatore party congress, Chief Minister Bhattcharjee had even initiated a resolution demanding the abolition of the Governor’s post. Since then, the CPI(M) in West Bengal had looked upon Gandhi as its political enemy.

However, in the Left Front too, it was basically the CPI(M) that continued to have a problem with Gandhi.

From load shedding to waterlogging, the Governor’s sharp reactions kept ruffling the Chief Minister’s feathers. He didn’t earn many friends with his self-imposed power cuts in Raj Bhavan during peak summer to highlight the electricity crisis, leaving the state Government with egg on its face, or when he summoned the Mayor seeking clarification and asking him about future projects to check waterlogging during the monsoon.

When the Governor called both the parties to the table on the Singur issue, he reportedly had apprehensions about the constitutional viability of his role as a mediator, as he is the constitutional head of the Government and should ideally be taking its side on an issue. “The Governor cannot be a mediator between the Government and the Opposition because he is also a part of the Government,” a senior officer in the CM’s secretariat said. At this juncture, Gandhi himself devised a way, only chairing the meeting.

His new circle of influence, accept CPI(M) members, extends far beyond his post. “Gandhi has created a new political understanding between the two parties,” said a CPI(M) central committee member.

War of words

Before the Singur sugar-coating, it was a war of words between Raj Bhavan and Writers’ Buildings

NANDIGRAM VIOLENCE

Gopal Krishna Gandhi: “The ardour of Deepavali has been dampened in the whole state by the events in Nandigram. Several villages in Nandigram are oscillating from the deepest gloom to panic.”

Biman Bose: “He has crossed his constitutional rights... The Governor’s statement will not only impede normalisation of the situation at Nandigram, but also serve to instigate... He has failed to maintain his neutrality as a Governor.”

Jyoti Basu: “(Gandhi’s remarks are) undesirable... will undo the peace process.”

LOADSHEDDING

Jyoti Basu: “His action (in switching off power supply at Raj Bhavan) was not in consonance with the dignity of his post. He should have consulted the state’s Power Minister... It is an act against the state (Government). He is acting like a child.”

Power Minister Mrinal Banerjee: “If a person chooses to have a single meal because of food crisis, what can we do?”

Biman Bose: “What is the necessity of the post of Governor in this federal system? After 60 years of Independence, the time has come to think about the necessity of the post... Why is he staying in a palatial building? A large number of people in West Bengal are living without shelter. He should move to a smaller building or a flat.”