HYDERABAD: Making it clear that she intends to be a bridge between the people and the government, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan said that the “Mahila Darbar” she held at the Raj Bhavan on Friday was to hear the voices that tend to go unheard. “My heart bleeds for minor girls,” Tamilisai told reporters, referring to the several incidences of rape that have been reported from across the State in the recent past.
Asked whether she has received any report from the Chief Secretary and the DGP on the Jubilee Hills gang rape case that she had sought within two days, Tamilisai said: “I had given two days (to submit the report). I have not received the report. Probably, the State government’s clock ticks slowly.” Asked whether she would meet the minor rape survivors, she said that she was bound by some limitations. “Once I visit their families, their identity will be revealed.
We should not reveal their identity,” Tamilisai said. “My message to the State government is that my heart bleeds for the sufferers, for the minor girls and for the affected women,” she said, surprised by the unprecedented response to the first Mahila Darbar. “I want to be a catalyst. I want to act as a bridge between the government and the people. No politics in this. Every office is meant for the people. Some of the critics may say how can the Raj Bhavan conduct darbars. I say that any public office is meant for the people,” Tamilisai said.
‘Every office must be accessible to people’
Matter of accessibility
She continued: “I cannot accept that the doors of the Raj Bhavan be closed and out of bounds for people. Each and every office should be accessible to the people. When I have the capacity to meet people, I will meet them.”
Coming down heavily on the State government for not following protocol and officials not receiving her during the tours, she said: “When a woman in the highest office is not getting respect, imagine the plight of the downtrodden.” She hastened to soften the blow by maintaining that she was not a controversial person and her intention was to do good for the people of the state.
Asked whether series of rape cases in the state was a failure of the State government, the Governor said that she should not comment on a democratically elected government. “If I make any comments, they would be politicised. I just want to make it very clear that the Raj Bhavan is not crossing any limits in conducting Praja Darbars. I am practising what the Constitution says,” she said.
CM can have it all
Asked about the State government’s plans to make the CM the Chancellor of all universities, she said he could take all the powers democratically.