Hyderabad: Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday alleged that the office of the gubernatorial post was "humiliated" by the state government led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and pointed to discrimination meted out to her as a "woman Governor". Soundararajan was interacting with the media on completing three years in office.
Reacting to Soundararajan's comments, ruling TRS MLC K Kavitha alleged that the office of the Governor of Telangana has turned into a "political stage" to defame the TRS government. The Governor, though, alleged that she faced hurdles in taking forward her initiatives for people's welfare. "When I took charge as the Governor of Telangana on the same day three years back, I really thought that I should be committed to the state... But, whatever may be the initiatives which I took forward to make it possible, it was not an easy job. Even the highest office (in the state) faced so many hurdles," Soundararajan said.
She cited the example of travelling by road for eight hours to attend the tribal festival of 'Sammakka-Sarakka Jatara' when the state government did not allegedly inform whether a helicopter as sought by her office would be provided or not. "But, whenever we wanted to reach out to people, definitely, I faced some hurdles... Every state writes its history. And (in the last) three years, the state will write a history on how a woman Governor is discriminated. But that discrimination did not halt this Governor," she said. She said she does not want history to be written in a "negative way" about the Governor being treated badly.
Soundararajan emphasised that she would not like to seek her rights only because she is a woman. Her idea is not to find fault with anybody but the high office of Governor should be respected, she said, adding that she should be informed if there is any problem. She pointed to being denied the Governor's address to the assembly, hoisting the flag on the Republic Day and protocol not being followed during her official visits. Though she does not want to talk about these issues, the people of Telangana should know the reality, Soundararajan said.
Claiming that the Governor's office was "humiliated", she gave the example of a customary 'At Home' reception hosted by her at Raj Bhavan. "If the highest elected representative is not coming, they should have informed us. First, they informed (that) they will come and then there was no message from the office whether they are coming or not. The system should be followed," she said. She also spoke about the problems faced by students at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) where she had visited.
Soundararajan has in the past spoken about alleged protocol violations during her official visits in the state. Asked as to why she should not assert her position with regard to protocol violations during her official visits, the Governor said if she concentrates only on the protocol issue, her original purpose would be defeated.
"You cannot wake up a person who is pretending to be sleeping," she said without elaborating.
On the allegation that the Centre has been discriminating against Telangana and whether she would make efforts to address the state's pending issues, Soundararajan said the recent Southern Zonal Council meeting was presided by Union Home Minister Amit Shah who was there to address these issues. "The Home Minister was there to solve the problems. I lauded the Home Minister for making arrangements for such a programme. All the Chief Ministers were there. All the officials were there. Why the Chief Minister (of Telangana was) not attending it," she said. Soundararajan had attended the event in her capacity as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
Asked about the comments that the trigger for differences with the state government came from her when she went ahead with the Republic Day speech which was not cleared by the cabinet, she wondered why the Governor was not allowed to hoist the National Flag and why there was no Republic Day parade.
She claimed that a speech was denied when her office approached the government for it. "If they are not giving (providing the speech), should I shut my mouth? Don't I have a right to talk?" she asked.
The Governor also asked as to what prevented the MLAs, MPs and other leaders to not come to the Raj Bhavan. "Is Raj Bhavan an untouchable place?" she questioned. Asked about the debate about September 17, the day erstwhile Hyderabad State under Nizam rule was merged with the Indian Union, being celebrated as 'Hyderabad Liberation Day' by the Centre, while the state government decided to observe the occasion as 'Telangana National Integration Day', Soundararajan said she has learnt about the history and thought that 'Liberation Day' would be correct. TRS MLC Kavitha took exception to the Governor's statements.
"The office of Governor of Telangana has turned into a political stage that is determined to defame the TRS Govt and CM KCR garu. The statements of Hon'ble Governor come at a time when they realised that the BJP driven smear campaigns can't con the people of Telangana," Kavitha, daughter of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, tweeted. (PTI)
