THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Taking a dig at governors, MP Shashi Tharoor opined that the purpose of a governor was to merely save the President’s time, by signing bills in his stead. Apart from that, they did not seem to serve any specific purpose, was how Tharoor chose to put it to wide applause while speaking on federalism on the concluding day of the Kerala Legislature International Book Festival on Tuesday.
At a time when the LDF government and the governor are at loggerheads, Tharoor was replying to a question posed by an audience member on the relevance of the gubernatorial post in the current political scenario.
“A governor is not required. Only the chief justice is required for a swearing-in-programme. Let the chief justice’s wife inaugurate a programme by cutting the ribbon (loud round of applause). When President’s rule was announced in J&K, the governor was required to rule the state. The Centre can send a governor as chief administrator. In a federal system, a state cannot sign the bills. It has to be done either by the governor or the President. The benefit of having a governor is to save the time of the President,” said Tharoor.
Speaking on federalism in his inimitable style, Tharoor said despite South Indian states outperforming North Indian states, the Centre is rewarding underperforming states. The Union government is going against the very nature of federal principles. He rued that more funds were being allocated to North Indian states, with only meagre funds being set aside for South Indian states.
Tharoor began by pointing out the blatant North-South bias followed by the Centre. As a three-term MP, Tharoor said he has by now realised the prejudiced attitude to South Indian states, citing that though these states had excelled in health and education sectors, they unfortunately managed to get less Central funds, as compared to their Northern counterparts.
The irony is that it now seems that only if a state fails to develop or progress, will it earn more Central funds, he said. “If a state excels in health, education and human development, it actually stands to lose politically,” he added.
Referring to an emerging Southern consciousness, Tharoor opined that after the general elections in 2024, the Centre is expected to initiate a Census in 2025, followed by delimitation the next year. This way the BJP can return to power with a two-third majority in the Hindi heartland and suppressing the southern states with less number of seats.