On the occasion of meeting our new Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai at Raj Bhavan, I took the liberty of bringing to his attention, several issues that he could focus on in the best interests of the State.
To do justice as the custodian and constitutional head of the State, the Governor should be truly non-partisan. Will Governor Pillai care to be proactive like Governor Satya Pal Malik? We shall soon know.
Recalling my first visit to the Goa Raj Bhavan (Cabo Raj Niwas, as it was then known) which was in 1971 at the age of 11, I met the then Lt. Governor Nakul Sen with a complaint about an illegal cowshed in Ribandar. From then on I have had the amazing privilege to interact with every successive Governor except the recent acting Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari. It has all been an extremely enlightening learning experience and enhancement of knowledge.
Over the last two decades, Goa has seen some very outstanding Governors by way of Lt Gen J.F.R. Jacob, Dr. S.S.Sidhu, Mr. B.V. Wanchoo and more recently the formidable Mr. Satya Pal Malik, whilst we have also witnessed and had to put up with some from the other end of the spectrum on whom less said the better.
Governor Pillai has just recently taken over and it will take him some time to settle down. He has started on a right note by asking visitors seeing him not to bring bouquets. But the bigger challenge for the new Governor will be to stay politically detached from that Lotus and uphold the Constitution of India at all times while holding fort at our Raj Bhavan.
