Editorial Board Contents - Bureau of Police Research and ...

Chhomohlohri, all of them juxtaposed in a row,at a distance of over 500 odd miles. It was a grandsight indeed.AS GOVERNOR OF SIKKIMI was sworn in as Governor of Sikkim on November21, 1985. This was the first time that an IPS officeror an lB officer was appointed as Governor of aState. In May 1975, after a referendum had beencarried out, Sikkim had merged with India.After the death of the Maharajah, the Maharajkumarsucceeded him and I was present at the coronationceremony, which took place in the autumn of 1965.Smt. Indira Gandhi had represented Governmentof India at the ceremony.AS GOVERNOR OF WEST BENGALMy appointment as Governor of West Bengal wasnotified on February 19, 1989. I was soundedabout the impending change, about four monthsbefore the appointment was formerly announced.My equation with Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu, asGovernor and Chief Minister, was cordial. Duringour periodical meetings, we used to discuss aboutmen and matters freely and frankly.In our meeting on June 21, 1989, the recentevents in China, centering around the seriousincidents at the Tiananmen Square, on the nightof June 3-4, were discussed. He said that hiscolleagues and himself in the CPM Politbureau,deplored the total failure of Communist party ofChina and its administration in not anticipatingevents, especially since trouble had beenbrewing for over six weeks. I told him that callingout the tanks to put down the student agitationwas extraordinary. In such a situation in India,the police force, followed by para-military forcesand then, in the event of their inability to handlethe situation, the infantry units of the army wouldbe called in, but never the tanks. Mr. Basu saidthat some of his colleagues, and he himself,had asked for a meeting with the ChineseAmbassador in Delhi and these questions wouldbe posed to him. Mr. Basu was also critical ofthe apparent intelligence failure in China, innot finding out what was brewing amongst thestudent community. According to Mr. Basu, therewere about 45,000 students in Beijing Universityalone, with a large number of foreigners, mostlyAmerican, and it was surprising that the brewingtrouble was not detected earlier.THE WIDOWS OF BENGAL INVRINDAVAN AND VARANASIFrom time immemorial, predating the comingof the Aryans, worship of Mother has been anhonoured and celebrated tradition, and anentrenched religious practice in Bengal. Bengalcelebrates the Puja with gay abandon. It was,therefore, particularly sad that the joint familiescould not look after elderly women, especiallythe widows, and that there were so many moreor less abandoned widows from Bengal ekeingout a precarious living at the pilgrim centres ofVaranasi and Vrindavan. There were severalwidows, most of them sent away by theirchildren, taking advantage of an ancient traditionof the elderly wanting to spend their last daysin the holy Kashi. The monthly remittances forthe widows tapered off after a few months andthereafter they were entirely left at the mercyof the religious establishments at the pilgrimcentres. They had to, unless unable to move dueto sickness, attend a few hours of singing sessionsat the temples and then allowed to receive moneyor rice, which would enable them to have frugalmeals. It was difficult to count the exact numberof widows at these pilgrim centres but the largestnumber of them were from West Bengal.I discussed this matter with Shri BuddhadebBhattacharya, the Minister for Social Welfareand requested him to examine the ways andmeans of repatriating the Bengal widows toshelters administered by Government aroundCalcutta, and also to pay them old-age pension,which was being done in some other formby the state. I also convened a meeting of thepresidents and secretaries of nearly 70 socialwelfare organizations which were listed out bythe government. Mrs. Renuka Ray, a well-knownsocial worker, agreed to become the Presidentof the newly formed organization called ShantiVishram, with Dr. Roma Chaudhury as Vice-President and Mr. Rusi B. Gimi as GeneralSecretary. The society was intended to assist theState Government in repatriating the widowsand providing them with shelter and sustenance.On the eve of my departure from West Bengalin Feb. 1990, Mrs. Ray wrote to me saying thatThe Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue 29