MUMBAI: Goa governor Satya Pal Malik, who is known for his proactive and outspoken nature, has been transferred on Tuesday within the year as a governor of Meghalaya because of his continuous shadow war with the chief minister Pramod Sawant.
According to the communication by president house, Satya Pal Malik has been appointed on the place of Tathagata Roy who completed his five-year tenure on the gubernatorial post in Tripura-Meghalaya. Roy has completed his five-year tenure by serving as governor of Tripura for three years and the remaining in Meghalaya.
The statement issued by the office of President Ram Nath Kovind said that Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been asked to discharge the functions of Goa governor in addition to his existing role.
In Goa, the simmering anger between Sawant and Malik was touted as the major reason behind Malik's abrupt ouster from the state. The tenure of Malik as governor of Jammu and Kashmir was quite fiery as well for he played a very active role during the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state.
The governor generally takes the side of the party by whom he has indirectly appointed, but Malik is said to have taken a pro-people stand. His popularity and proactiveness started heating the image of BJP and chief minister Pramod Sawant and gave ready-made fuel to the opposition in Goa.
The bone of contention was COVID-19 and the preparedness of Goa government. While Sawant said that Goa is safe and falls under green zone and hence, people should not get afraid of the virus, Malik contradicted Sawant's statement saying, "The state falling under green zone is fine but where is the preparedness of the government to fight against this deadly virus? "
Later during allowing a mining proposal, Sawant was in favour of mining for the state's development, but the local people, whose bungalows and properties were proposed to demolish, opposed this proposal fearing damage to ecology. Interestingly, Malik also joined their chorus
The chief minister was again forced to eat the humble pie because of the aggressive stand of governor while proposing the construction of the new governor house. Interestingly, he had even constituted a committee comprising of architects and engineers but Malik himself put down the proposal saying this is the not the time to construct the new governor house citing that there is no money in state exchequer.
According to the local people, the final nail came when Malik started conducting a meeting for the implementations of the new education policy of the central government where his decisions are said to have been quick that earned him good praise in education fraternity and among students as well. However, hat did not go well with the chief minister.
Interestingly, Malik was so popular with his decisions being hailed by the people and Opposition. The oppositon parties were very happy that a central government-appointed governor had started going against the BJP-ruled state goverment. They also sensed an opportunity to criticize the chief minister and expose his government.
Due to this pro stand, the governor's house became a more buzzing place than the chief minister office in Goa. People also started going in large number to the governor's house to resolve their issues, but this pro-activeness and people-oriented work did not last long for Malik and he was forced to move out in a less than a year against his five-year tenure.