Kolkata: Former Intelligence Bureau (IB) super-cop and also the former Governor of Tamil Nadu, R.N. Ravi, was sworn in as the new Governor of West Bengal on Thursday morning. 

The ceremony started at 11.30 a.m. at Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan) in Kolkata. The oath to the new Governor was administered by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul in the presence of dignitaries like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Speaker of the Assembly Biman Bandopadhyay and the Chairman of the Left Front in the state, Biman Bose, among others

However, to the surprise of many, despite being invited, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, was not present on the occasion. In fact no representative from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was present on the occasion.

Ravi succeeds C.V. Ananda Bose, who suddenly resigned from that chair on the evening of March 5, and on the same evening, Ravi’s name was announced as his successor. Ravi arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday, and on the same evening, Bose left the city for his hometown in Kerala.

Before leaving the state, Bose posted an emotional “Open Letter” for the people of West Bengal on the wall of Lok Bhavan’s social media handle. There, he said that his emotional attachment to West Bengal and the people of the state will continue forever.

Ravi is the second IB super-cop to be sworn in as West Bengal Governor in the last one-and-a half decades.

Before the crucial 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal, which marked the end of the 34-year-long Left Front regime and the beginning of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress command, former IB chief and also the former National Security Adviser (NSA), M.K Narayanan, was sworn in as the then-West Bengal Governor.

Could be just a matter of coincidence, but the appointment of former IB super-cop Ravi as the new Governor of West Bengal, is also happening when the state is heading for crucial Assembly elections later this year.