Governor’s Powers And Actions In Jharkhand Continue To Raise Questions

Santhal Pargana has illegal mining going on, but we won’t allow the gangs take control, said the governor.

“Raj Bhavan is carrying out the Governor’s instructions” Speaker

“The speaker’s remark is abhorrent,” said BJP leader Babu Lal Marani.

BJP: “Strict action should be taken against the speaker for speaking against Raj Bhawan.”

What are BJP leaders and ministers supposed to do if the governor begins carrying out their duties?

“Governor is busy promoting the policies of the Central Government instead of giving advice to the CM,” JMM

Irfan Ansari, a congressman, said, “The Governor is engaging in politics.”

Several of these astute remarks grabbed national news in June in Jharkhand and other regions of the nation. The Governor has been a topic of conversation because to the acrimonious dialogue between the government and opposition parties, which made headlines last year.

On a recent trip to Santhal Pargana, Governor CP Radhakrishnan visited Pakur and made a comment that was later found to be “dadagiri” (bullying behavior). The speaker of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha, Ravindra Mahato, is from Santhal Pargana, which the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the party in power, considers to be one of its strongholds. JMM has filled every seat designated for the ST community in Santhal Pargana. According to a source at Raj Bhawan, Governor Radhakrishnan visited several villages in Santhal Pargana in the last two weeks. He interacted with the villagers to understand the various issues they deal with on a daily basis and gave the district administration advice on the best grievance redressal system.

Ravindranath Mahato, speaking to a JMM public meeting after the Governor’s remarks, said, however, that Raj Bhawan is carrying out the BJP’s instructions. After BJP and JMM made accusations and denials about the governor and his remarks, a number of disputes quickly sprang up. The UPA (JMM, Congress, and RJD) administration has been in charge for the last three years. As the primary adversary, BJP has been.

In the meanwhile, JMM has supported Mahato’s remarks and charged the Governor of acting as the Center’s representative. They claim Radhakrishnan travels everywhere promoting the initiatives of the federal government. The general secretary of the JMM, Supriyo Bhattacharya, told Outlook that everything mentioned by the speaker was true. The Governor openly serves the BJP and the Center. He just seeks to disparage the State Government and exalt the Central Government everywhere he goes. We have been seeing for a year that the governor is doing all in his power to obstruct governmental operations.

According to the ‘Governor of Jharkhand’ on Twitter, he has completed 180 actions since taking the oath of office on February 18 through July. Nearly 70 of these events included public meetings and discussions, and the majority of these programs were held in various districts. He has met President Draupadi Murmu twice, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar three times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi three times, Amit Shah twice, and vice presidents Jagdeep Dhankhar and Amit Shah twice. He has only met Rajnath Singh and Arjun Munda once each. All 24 of Jharkhand’s districts have been visited by the governor. The villagers met with the governor at Simdega, which was the last stop on the journey.

However, the JMM is claiming that the Governor’s trip was politically motivated, while the BJP believes that it was only an exercise of the authority granted to Jharkhand under the fifth schedule. “Jharkhand is a state that falls under the fifth schedule area, and the Governor is the custodian of the state,” claims Pratul Shahdeo, a BJP spokesman in Jharkhand. Because of this, the Governor in this state has greater authority than in other states. He has the ability to give instructions, offer guidance, and speak on tribal matters. The way the governing party is criticizing the governor on this topic, however, is utterly despicable. Political parties are increasingly speaking out against the governor. Everything the speaker said about the governor is unconstitutional in and of itself. In our meeting with the governor, we demanded that the speaker face severe consequences.

The antagonism between the opposition and the governing parties is not a recent development. This was also true of Ramesh Bais, the present governor of Maharashtra, and former governor Droupadi Murmu, who is now the president of India. Draupadi Murmu and CM Hemant Soren clashed over the creation of the Jharkhand Tribes Advisory Council in the latter months of 2020. When Soren forwarded a dossier to the Governor House proposing the creation of TAC, the Governor responded with ideas and voiced some concerns. This took place twice. The Hemant Soren Government announced the revised TAC rules and regulations in June 2021 after the file was rejected. It increased the chief minister’s authority to select a member of the TAC while decreasing the governor’s authority. Following this, the state and the governor have been engaged in an intensified legal dispute.

The fifth schedule region is made up of 10 states, including Jharkhand. Here, the governor is the custodian, and a TAC has been constituted to make decisions about the tribe members. When Ramesh Bais was sworn in as the Governor of Jharkhand in 2021, the TAC issue was still a hot button issue. Ramesh Bais and Hemant Soren had disagreements sometimes throughout the governor’s 19-month term. Along with attacking the Governor, the CM claimed that he was representing the Centre. When the issue about Soren’s earnings came to light in the months of July and August 2022, the relationship become even more ugly. The Governor was informed by the BJP of the unlawful mining lease problem involving Hemant Soren. The Election Commission received notification of this issue. The Governor received the report from the Commission. According to sources, Hemant Soren was named as the culprit in the letter. The Governor, however, never made the letter received public. When the governing party requested information on what was included in the letter the panel sent, the governor refused to provide it, claiming constitutional restrictions.

Following this episode, the Hemant Soren-led administration accused the governor of having a prejudice towards the BJP and collaborating with it to overthrow the Jharkhand government. During a speech, Governor Ramesh Bais made another contentious claim that an atomic bomb will detonate in Jharkhand, inflaming the political climate. His comment stayed prominent for a considerable amount of time. Following that, there was a lot of criticism.

After voicing concerns about many bills enacted by the Jharkhand Government, Ramesh Bais once again came under scrutiny. Alamgir Aalam, the minister of legislative affairs for Jharkhand, had the following to say about this: “Three to four bills enacted by the State Legislative Assembly during his period in office were returned after he made a number of concerns. The Governor did not grant his consent to any of these Bills, including the Sarna Tribe’s religious code, mob lynchings, OBS reserve, and domicile Bill.

Nine legislative bills were submitted to Ramesh Bais for approval during his time in office, according to a study. He had all of them back. The Khatiyan-based Local Policy and OBC Reservation Bill of 1932, mob lynching Bill, Pandit Raghunath Murmu Scheduled Tribe University Bill, Jharkhand Finance Bill 2021, Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Bill 2022, Court fees Bill 2022, Jharkhand Taxation Acts Resolution of Dues Bill 2022, OBC reservation Bill, and Sarna Religion Code Bill were among them. Three of them later received approval.

When summarizing the events of the previous year, senior journalist Faisal Anurag states, “The manner the Governor is doing his function is guaranteed to raise eyebrows of the position and they will remark. Jharkhand is not the only issue here. One must consider the states with non-BJP governments in charge. In each of these states, the function of the governor is under scrutiny. These events have damaged the governor’s prestigious position’s reputation. It is important to adhere to the Governor’s constitutionally mandated position. It is inexcusable that Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan recently used such rhetoric.

Alamgir Alam remarks, “I have never heard Governor or Speaker making political statements,” in the current episodes of Governor and Speaker. I believe that keeping quiet about this matter is preferable. I don’t know what the BJP has in mind for Jharkhand. Since taking office, the BJP has been abusing its constitutional authority and undermining democracy.