R. N. Ravi was sworn in as the 22nd Governor of West Bengal on Thursday morning during a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, also known as Lok Bhavan. The oath of office was administered by Sujoy Paul, Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Several prominent political figures attended the swearing-in ceremony, including Biman Banerjee, senior minister and Firhad Hakim, and Biman Bose. Senior administrative officials and police officers were also present, among them Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty. No representative from the Bharatiya Janata Party attended the programme.
Ravi assumed the position after the resignation of the previous Governor, C. V. Ananda Bose, who stepped down on March 5. Before taking charge in West Bengal, Ravi had completed a tenure of about 54 months as Governor of Tamil Nadu. Earlier in his career as a constitutional head, he had also served as Governor of Nagaland and Meghalaya.
During his tenure in Tamil Nadu, Ravi was known for an unusually active style of engagement with the public. Departing from the traditional perception of the governor’s office as distant from citizens, he sought to open the Raj Bhavan to various sections of society. Over the course of his tenure, he addressed more than one lakh students and repeatedly emphasised the role of young people in nation-building. He also personally distributed over 50,000 academic certificates during university convocations, conducting multiple convocation sessions at Raj Bhavan.
Born in Patna, Ravi completed a master’s degree in physics in 1974 before joining the Indian Police Service in 1976. During his career as a police and intelligence officer, he served in several institutions including the Central Bureau of Investigation and later the Intelligence Bureau under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
His intelligence career involved assignments in areas affected by insurgency and internal security challenges, including Jammu and Kashmir, the northeastern states and regions affected by Maoist insurgency. He also worked extensively on issues relating to migration and border populations in South Asia.
Ravi later played an important role in conflict resolution efforts in the northeast. In August 2014, he was appointed the central government’s interlocutor for the Naga peace talks, tasked with facilitating dialogue between the government and insurgent groups in Nagaland. His work helped bring several armed groups into negotiations aimed at resolving decades-long insurgency within the framework of the Constitution of India.
In October 2018, Ravi was appointed Deputy National Security Advisor. The following year he assumed office as Governor of Nagaland on August 1, 2019, before later being appointed the 26th Governor of Tamil Nadu on September 18, 2021.
With his swearing-in as Governor of West Bengal, Ravi now begins a new constitutional role in one of India’s most politically active states.
