SHILLONG: Meghalaya Governor, Tathagata Roy seems to have developed a new found penchant for twitter comments on politics in his home state West Bengal rather than dwelling on the State he currently “governs”, fuelling rumours that he has eyes on the hot chair in Kolkata, should BJP manage to wrest power from Mamata Banerjee.
This is in sharp contrast to his earlier tweets on issues in Meghalaya landing himself to political controversies.
In December last year Governor Roy had got into trouble because of a tweet he had sent out regarding the political situation obtaining then in Meghalaya. He had to proceed on leave for a couple of months until things cooled down. Since then, perhaps Governor Roy has been more circumspect about tweeting on issues related to Meghalaya.
But he is an avid West Bengal watcher for obvious reasons. The BJP is trying hard to capture Bengal and Roy is an unabashed BJP supporter and a self-confessed Right-winger. BJP in West Bengal is seemingly without a leader to don the office of chief minister. Apparently, he is trying to fill the breach.
A day ago, Roy bemoaned the work and medical ethics of Bengal. His tweet goes, “What has our work and medical ethics come to? A man from Haridebpur, Kolkata went to Vidyasagar Hospital with unbearable pain in his leg. He was sent home because the concerned doctor was absent. Unable to bear the pain he committed suicide. Then his father died from a heart failure.”
When a Twitter user asked why he tweets about West Bengal, even while he is Governor of Meghalaya, the Governor replied, ”I do engage on Meghalaya issues. But with the government, usually not on twitter. These are concerns for human miseries, whether in Meghalaya, Bengal or elsewhere. West Bengal’s population is nearly 10 crore. Meghalaya’s some 30 lakh. Problems are proportionally fewer.”
Observers point out that while Meghalaya is not without its share of miseries, it is a wonder why its Governor prefers to tweet on various issues under the sun, save those of Meghalaya’s.
Roy, who has completed his five-year term as Governor in May this year, has a Twitter following of 1.16 lakh people. His Twitter profile reads, “Right -wing Hindu socio-political thinker, writer, ideologue. Also Governor of Meghalaya. His Twitter header image is that of the flood plains of Bangladesh as seen from Mawsmai, Sohra (Cherrapunjee).
Amongst Governor Roy’s followers are Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, veteran journalists Shekhar Gupta and Sankarshan Thakur, BJP MPs and ministers Smriti Irani, Harsh Vardhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, Swapan Dasgupta, Baijayant Panda and several others.
