Tag: Meghalaya governor

  • If I say something on farm issues, there will be a row: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik

    By Express News Service

    GUWAHATI: A critic of the Centre’s policies, Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik indicated he would keep quiet on the farm issues as his comments could trigger a controversy.

    He also said that he would not waste a minute in quitting the gubernatorial post if “two-three big people” in Delhi asked him to do so.

    “The issue today is that of the farmers. If I say something about it, there will be a controversy. (After I make a statement), I wait for two weeks wondering if I am going to get a call from Delhi,” Malik said at a programme.

    “A governor cannot be removed but my well-wishers (read critics) wait for the moment that I say something and get removed. They write on Facebook asking ‘Governor saab, if you feel it so much, why you don’t resign,” Malik said.

    He said he was chosen to serve as the governor by two-three big people in Delhi and he was speaking against their wishes.

    “I am fully aware that what I say will create problems for them. The day they will ask me to relieve themselves of the problems, I will not waste a minute (in tendering my resignation),” the governor said. 

  • If BJP doesn’t listen to farmers, it won’t return to power: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik

    By Express News Service

    JAIPUR: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik has warned the BJP that it will not return to power unless the Centre listens to farmers protesting the new agricultural laws. “There is only one thing which will solve the entire issue. If the government agrees to give legal guarantee to the minimum support price mechanism, I will mediate and convince the farmers,” he told the media in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu on Sunday.

    “I am with the farmers. I have fought with PM and home minister for them. I have told everyone that what they are doing is wrong and they should not do it,” Malik said. He also spoke on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Oct 3, when eight people were killed after being knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers. Farmers alleged that Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish was in one of the vehicles.

    Responding to a question, he said Ajay Mishra should have been asked to resign. “It is completely wrong. Resignation of the minister should have been sought the day Lakhimpur Kheri incident took place. Otherwise, too, he doesn’t deserve to be a minister.” Malik, an outspoken Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, alleged that BJP leaders can’t even enter any village in Meerut, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar in UP, which is headed to polls in February. 

    Commenting on the killings of civilians in J&K, he said: “When I was Governor of J&K, nothing was happening. There was no stone pelting; nobody was dying. No terrorists dared enter within 50 km of Srinagar. Now, they are killing openly in the city. It is saddening.”

  • Meghalaya Governor writes to Amit Shah, seeks justice over mysterious deaths of two Garos in Haryana

    By PTI
    SHILLONG: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik on Sunday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah seeking justice over the alleged mysterious deaths of two members of a Garo family in Gurugram, an official said.

    While Rosy Sangma had earlier this week died under suspicious circumstances in a private hospital in Gurugram, her nephew Samuel Sangma was found hanging in a room a few days later.

    Both of them hailed from Dimapur in Nagaland.

    “The Governor of Meghalaya has taken cognizance of media reports and outrage over the unnatural deaths of both the individuals of North East and has taken note of the petition addressed to him on the matter,” a Raj Bhavan official said in a statement.

    The governor, who is travelling to New Delhi on Sunday, would take up the matter with the authorities concerned for a free, fair, and expeditious investigation into the matter and ensure justice for the deceased, the statement said.

  • Talking ‘unofficially’ to both sides for early solution: Meghalaya Governor Malik on govt-farmers stalemate

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik has said he was talking “unofficially” to the agitating farmers and the government to press for an early solution to the stalemate over the contentious agri laws, adding there was a growing understanding within the two sides that a resolution needs to be found at the earliest.

    Malik, who hails from Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh, asserted the issue of farmers needs to be resolved soon else it will damage the BJP in Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

    He also expressed regret that “no one has uttered even a single word” at the death of agitating farmers during the over 100-day protest by them.

    Referring to the deadlock persisting between the protesting farmers and the government despite several rounds of talk Malik said no one is being unreasonable in the government and only those who want to damage the party are opposing an early solution.

    “I am of the opinion that there should be a solution to the problem at the earliest and I am hopeful now of an early solution because there seems to be not much distance between the viewpoints of two sides.

    “I am talking unofficially to both the sides pressing for an early solution.

    There is a growing understanding within the farmer community that a solution needs to be found at the earliest as well as the government,” Malik told NDTV.

    Hundreds of farmers have been camping at Ghazipur, Singhu and Tikri on Delhi borders since November with a demand the Centre repeal the three contentious farm laws and make a new one that would ensure a legal guarantee on the MSP.

    Protest is also going on in several parts of country on the issue.

    The government, however, has held that the laws were pro-farmer.

    “No one is unreasonable in the government — neither the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) nor other people.

    Only those people will oppose an early solution to the problem, who want to damage the party.

    I am hopeful of an early solution to this, as otherwise the issue will damage the party in Western UP, Haryana and Rajasthan,” he added.

    “I have been asked by the media why I am talking about the issues despite being on a Constitutional post, and I explained that even if a dog is killed, there are condolence messages pouring in from everywhere and here 250 farmers are dead the border, no one has uttered even a single word,” he added.

    “By not talking about it, we have left the entire turf for opponents who are talking and taking political mileage from it,” he said.

    Malik said he was born and brought up among the farming community and that is why he was pained about the situation.

    He said he is not worried as to what his former party members in the BJP will think of him for his statements on the issue.

    “I was born and brought up with this community and that is why I am pained about the situation of farmers today.

    No, I am not scared because whenever leaders of my party feel that I am creating problems for them and the same is conveyed to me, I will immediately leave and raise the same voice as an individual,” he said.

    The government has held several rounds of talks with farmer leaders, but they have been inconclusive so far.

    “And if you cast aspersions on the agitation, then let me tell you that the anger and alienation level is too high among the farming community. The solution will be found soon as reasonability within the farming community as well as the government is growing. Now the government should call them and start a dialogue,” he said.

    Earlier, siding with farmers, Malik had on Sunday urged Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah not to “offend” them.

    Speaking at an event in his home district Baghpat, he had said if the Centre gives legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, farmers will relent.