There’s quite a bit of hostility between the Governments and Governors in three States

Three States in the Union are witnessing a spectacle of confrontation between the BJP-appointed Governors and the Governments concerned. The bad blood between Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is now folklore. Along similar lines, the confrontation between Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and Chief Minister MK Stalin is brewing on an hourly basis due to the former’s refusal to toe the political line of the DMK Government. The Governor’s refusal to sign the Bill scrapping NEET in the State made Stalin and the ruling party furious and they retaliated by ridiculing the State’s top authority. In Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan has questioned the Government’s propriety of appointing party cadre as personal staff members of Ministers, paying them hefty salary and perks. The cadres who serve these Ministers for a minimum of two years are eligible for a monthly pension equivalent to Government staff’s with more than three decades of service. The cat is out of the bag as there is deep desire among the party cadres to get on board as the personal staff of Ministers. Interestingly, all the three Governors were appointed by the BJP Government at the Centre while the three States are ruled by staunch critics and rivals of the Hindutva party.

Hence it is quite natural to have strained ties between the Governors and the non-BJP State Governments. Ravi is a retired IPS officer who did a commendable job while in service and even after retirement. Khan is quite unique in his approach to various issues. He shot to fame as a young Cabinet Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Government when he put in his papers over the Centre moving a Constitution amendment Bill to derail the Supreme Court verdict in the Shah Bano case on maintenance allowance to divorced Muslim women. Khan, who took charge as the Governor in 2019, has become a popular First Citizen of the State within no time. He visited the houses of most of the young brides who had committed suicide/were murdered over dowry-related issues and made youngsters take the pledge that they would never accept dowry. He has warned the Kerala Government about the state of affairs in universities which have become centres offering employment to close relatives of Ministers, MLAs and party bigwigs despite not being qualified enough. Something is rotten in TN and Kerala as the elected Governments fume while people support these Governors.