The office of the state governors has often courted controversy for the incumbent’s political views. Addressing the issue way back in 1987, the Sarkaria Commission had said that the governor should be a person of some eminence in some field and a detached figure with little record of participation in the local politics of the state. This was endorsed by other expert bodies, including the Venkatachaliah Commission on the review of the Constitution in 2002.
Despite this near unanimous view, state governors continue to misuse their discretionary powers under various political regimes. They have dismissed and installed state governments at the Centre’s call, circumventing the constitutional provisions and norms of propriety to suit the political imperatives of the party in power. However, there is a marked difference between seemingly routine deviations from strict constitutional norms and the current conduct of some governors in which the alleged impropriety is neither subtle nor cloaked in specious constitutional justifications.
The latest example of this trend is Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. Addressing the 80th session of the Indian History Congress in Kannur recently, he slammed those protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NCR) as “stinking potholes”. The distasteful remark was preceded by Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy asking those opposing divisive politics in the Northeast to go to North Korea.
A former president of the West Bengal unit of the BJP, Roy has often stoked controversy with his tweets. Following the terror attack in Pulwama, he called for a boycott of ‘everything Kashmiri’. Unabashed, he describes himself as a ‘Right-wing Hindu socio-political thinker, writer, ideologue’ on his Twitter handle.
Governors in the past, including those appointed by the Congress, have done and said objectionable things. But, at least for the record, they have refrained from openly acknowledging their political lineage.
The then Rajasthan Governor, Kalyan Singh, also crossed the line a few months back. During 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he said: “As a worker of the BJP, I genuinely want the party to win. It is important for the nation and society that Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister again.” He remained unfazed by the Election Commission’s reprimand that he was in violation of the model code of conduct. And, true to his words, he rejoined the party after his retirement.
The institution of governor is a disputed phase of Indian democracy. Agent of the Centre, puppet and rubber stamp are some of the terms used to describe him/her. The then Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Sarojini Naidu, had famously said: “I am a bird in a golden cage”. She was referring to the limited political role of a state governor. Governors today, it seems, like to enjoy all the glitter of their golden cage, saying and doing anything without restraint.
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