NEW DELHI, Sept 8: Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday accused the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government in the state of ill-treating and discriminating against her possibly because she was a woman.
Speaking at a public function on Thursday at the completion of three years in the office, Soundararajan cited a number of instances to allege that the state government is discriminating against her because she’s a woman. She listed not getting the government helicopter as an example, and being “denied” the Governor’s Address and hoisting of the flag on Republic Day.
“Whenever I wanted to reach out to the people, definitely there was some hurdle,” she said. “The state will write in its history how a woman governor was discriminated against.”
Referring to her equation with the state government, the Governor recalled a situation when she received a raw deal from the state government. She said she was to go for a tribal festival in Mulugu district. “I needed to go the Sammakka Sarakka (Jatara), so had asked the government for a helicopter because the road journey would take eight hours… Till the last minute, we were not informed whether they will give the helicopter or not. We left the next morning by car.” She said she barely made it in time as the main festival was to be over by 4pm.
Neither the ruling party nor the chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (‘KCR’) have responded to her allegations. There is a political angle on the issue. Ms Soundararajan is a former chief of Tamil Nadu BJP. The BJP-led Centre and the TRS government have snapped at each other frequently over the past few months as Chief Minister KCR works to bind the Opposition to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024.
“I am telling this not to pinpoint somebody,” Soundararajan said, “But the highest office in the state should be respected.” “This is not the only incident. I was denied the Governor’s Address. I was denied the hosting of the flag on Republic Day,” she added. “Even now, wherever I go, protocol is totally not followed. The Collector doesn’t come and greet. I am not bothered, but the office should be respected.”
She said discrimination has “not halted this woman”. “I work more than men. I do not want anything because of any allotment or reservation because I am a woman. But we all respect womanhood.” She said she now travels, “wherever I can”, by car or train.
(Manas Dasgupta)