Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan hit out at her detractors, particularly from the BRS who criticised her for refusing to nominate party leaders in the Legislative Council under the governor’s quota.
“I never hide or shy away from my past. Some of the people in Telangana telling you were a BJP leader, a politician. That is history. Now, I am an administrator,” said Dr Soundararajan while addressing a gathering of eminent women from all walks of life came together to celebrate the enactment of the women’s reservation at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday.
BRS leaders, including party’s working president KT Rama Rao, recently sought to remind the Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan that she was appointed Telangana governor while she was president of Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP after she cited Article 17 (15) of the Constitution saying nominating political leaders as social workers will defeat its very purpose.
She told her audience that when she was appointed governor of Telangana, the Cabinet didn’t have a single woman minister. “I was sworn in as governor in the morning and administered the oath to two women ministers in the evening.”
Although the BRS, particularly party MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha, raised the issue, the governor in a subtle comparison, pointed out that unlike the BRS, which did not encourage women in its rank and file the BJP had decided to provide 33 per cent reservation within the party’s ranks even before the Bill was passed.
She, however, pointed out that the reservations were not a shortcut for women. They have to work harder than men to even be considered for a post since politics was still a male bastion.
Drawing upon her own experience in Telangana as governor where she was denied protocol when she took the ruling party head on, Dr Soundararajan said, “Woman sometimes become emotional. Always be brave, whether you are respected or not respected, whether you are given protocol or not, be brave. Nothing should hurt you… If you come and give me a flower, I will receive it. If you are turning your back to me, I will move ahead even faster.”
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the reservations, she said only a powerful leader could have got the Women’s Reservation Bill passed and that fact that a woman President gave her assent to the Bill is fitting tribute to his effort.