SHILLONG, March 30: In yet another veiled attack on the BJP-led central government on Wednesday, Governor Satya Pal Malik said if he were rich and wealthy, agencies like Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department and Central Bureau of Investigation would have raided his house.
Addressing the 3rd convocation of ICFAI University here, Malik said he has been a four-time MLA, MP, Minister and a Governor but he does not own a house.
“Poverty is my real strength and I can fight even with the big and powerful people of the country. If I had wealth, ED, Income Tax and CBI would have come to my house and I would have been scared,” the Governor said.
He said he has been serving in the gubernatorial post for over four years and the Governors are so helpless that they are called in every work even if they do not have any knowledge about it.
“The Governors are given a written speech, after which they think they have done a great work,” Malik said in a lighter vein.
Stating that the real strength of a person is his/her character and behaviour, Malik said since he will not have any house post-retirement, he has asked the Home Minister to allot one for him.
Earlier, the Governor said nothing in this world can empower a person as much as education can.
Malik said people often talk about the development of the country but it has produced only 12 Nobel Prize winners whereas each university in countries like the USA and England have 70-90 Nobel Prize winners.
“We do neither have quality education nor those types of studies. The government does not focus on it,” he said, lamenting that not more than 6% of the budget was spent on higher education till date.
Stating that there is hardly any discussion on the education sector even in Parliament, the Governor said people are talking about new India but if the country does not focus on education, India will not reach anywhere.
Malik advised students to look at the person standing on the last mile while making decision in future to see if it is going to have any impact on him or not.
CBI begins probe into Malik’s bribe allegation
The CBI on Wednesday began its probe into the allegations made by the Governor that he was offered bribes to clear two files when he was in office, officials in Jammu & Kashmir said.
On March 25, the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha had said that the CBI has been given consent to probe Malik’s allegations to make “everything crystal clear”.
Malik, the last governor of Jammu & Kashmir before the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two union territories in August 2019, had in October last year claimed that he was offered Rs 300 crore bribe to clear a file each belonging to “Ambani” and an “RSS-affiliated man” during his tenure.
Currently the governor of Meghalaya, Malik said that he cancelled the deals, and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for supporting his decision by saying there is no need to compromise on corruption.
The officials said the CBI had taken over the investigation of the case and commenced its probe into the allegations.
Malik is also likely to be questioned during the course of the investigation as he had signed the file before making the allegations, the officials said. (With PTI inputs)