Kolkata:
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday responded to the row over reports claiming that he “unveiled” his statue in Kolkata. Issuing a clarification in a post on X, Mr Bose said that the statue was a sculpture presented to him at an event.
“In some media reports, it has come out that HG (Honourable Governor) has ‘unveiled his own statue’ at Raj Bhavan. The fact is as follows: Many artists submit their artistic creations to HG. Many painters made HG’s portraits and presented to him. Similarly, a creative sculptor had created a sculpture of HG and presented to HG,” the Kolkata Raj Bhavan said.
“This has been unfortunately been described as unveiling his own statue,” the post added.
Reportedly, the statue was sculpted by a sculptor Partha Saha, and presented to Mr Bose.
On November 23, several pictures were posted on X by the handle ‘Indian Museum’, ย the ninth oldest museum in the world, in which Mr Bose can be seen standing next to his bust – which came off as him unveiling his own statue. It claimed that the “unveiling” took place to mark the commencement of the Governor’s third year in office.
This sparked a major controversy, with several people slamming the Governor and accusing him of having an “inflated sense of self-importance”. Some opposition leaders from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) also reportedly accused Mr Bose of wanting “publicity”.
However, later on, some media reports claimed that Mr Bose was attending an inaugural event of a painting exhibition inside the Raj Bhavan when the statue was presented to him.