By Shambhu Nath Choudhary
Ranchi, Jan 15 (IANS) The friction between Governor Ramesh Bais and the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand has been constant.
In the last year and a half since Bais assumed office on July 7, 2021, there have been more than a dozen occasions where he raised questions on the vision, decisions and functioning of the Soren government.
Soren and his party leaders also attack Bais while reacting to his statements.
Bais, in a statement made in the past, said that he took a while to understand the state politics.
On December 29, which marked three years of his government, Soren said that the post of Governor was a constitutional one and should not be commented upon.
He added that Bais should make it clear whether he was in the state to engage in political wars or serve a constitutional role.
A total of 10 governors have been appointed in the state’s history of 22 years, out of which, the tenure of Syed Sibtey Razi between 2004 and 2009, and Bais’, who is serving as the tenth governor, will be remembered for controversies.
Bais, a resident of Raipur in Chhattisgarh, has spent his entire career of around 45-50 years, working with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
During his tenure, the tone of his speeches in many public programmes has resembled that of opposition leaders.
For instance, on January 12, while addressing a programme organised on Youth Day in Ranchi, Bais said that the state’s government universities were not looked after properly.
He listed their shortcomings and said that he had been trying to improve the situation.
Prior to this, on January 5, he held a meeting with officials to review the various schemes being run for the tribals in Jharkhand.
According to a release issued by the Raj Bhavan after the meeting, the Governor said, “There is no dearth of funds for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes, what is lacking is the vision and commitment to implement the schemes.”
He accused the government of not using the funds received from the Centre efficiently, by proper planning.
Earlier, during the inauguration of an expo at Morabadi ground in Ranchi, Bais said that there was no lack of resources in the state, the only thing that lacked was vision.
He cited lack of vision as the reason behind the state being backward in some aspects.
Senior journalist Sudhir Pal said that even though the Governor does not mention Soren directly in his speeches where he talks about the visionlessness and plight of the state, he intends his attack and questions to be against the Soren government.
On December 14, Bais wrote a letter to Soren, referring to the ropeway accident on Trikut mountain in Deoghar and the incident of communal violence and police firing in the state capital and expressed surprise over not receiving the investigation report.
He said that the recurrence of such incidents cannot be prevented if the government does not take any proper action in the matter.
He then sought information on action taken in both the cases at the earliest.
Prior to this, the Governor strongly commented on law and order in the state regarding several incidents including the Ranchi violence, setting a girl ablaze in Dumka, among others.
After the Ranchi violence in June last year, Bais summoned the state’s DGP and Ranchi’s SSP and instructed them to put up hoardings with pictures of the miscreants.
Bais has raised questions on the rules made by the state government, including the formation of the Tribal Advisory Council several times.
Apart from this, he has returned many bills including the Anti-Mob Lynching Bill and Krishi Mandi Bill passed by the state government in the Assembly for different reasons.
However, three of these bills were re-passed in the last session of the Assembly and many of his objections were rejected.
Apart from these instances, a letter from the Election Commission created the most tension between Bais and Soren.
The sealed letter was received at the Raj Bhavan on August 25.
The letter contained content regarding the eligibility-disqualification of Soren, however its contents have not been officially revealed yet.
The Soren government is apprehensive that the letter can be used against them at any point of time by Bais.
–IANS
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