The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Meghalaya Governor resigned only after nudge from Centre
SEXUAL HARASSMENT CLOUD
IT WAS a nudge from the Centre that led to the resignation of V Shanmuganathan as Meghalaya Governor, two days after he had publicly denied allegations of sexual harassment levelled by Raj Bhavan staff, a senior Home Ministry official told The Indian Express.
“The allegations were of such serious nature that the system had to take cognizance,” said the official, who did not provide more details.
On Friday, President Pranab Mukherjee accepted Shanmuganathan’sresignationasgovernor of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. “The President of India is pleased to appoint Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Assam, to discharge the functions of the Governor of Meghalaya, and Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya,governorofnagaland,to discharge the functions of the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, in addition to their own duties, untilregulararrangementsforthe offices of the Governor of Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh are made,” said a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
A veteran RSS activist from Tamil Nadu, Shanmuganathan (68) landed in a controversy when 80 Meghalaya Raj Bhavan employees complained that “his activities (have) hurt the decorum and prestige of the Raj Bhavan as well as sentiments of the Raj Bhavan employees”.
On Thursday, The Indian Express had published contents of the letter sent to the Prime Minister’s Office and Rashtrapati Bhavan by the Raj Bhavan staff.
His “activities”, the letter sent to the PMO alleged, “seriously compromised the dignity” of Raj Bhavan, converting it into a “young ladies’ club”, causing “severe humiliation, mental stress and torture” to employees, shunting out other employees and bringing in “only the young girls”.
The letter alleged that “two public relations officers, a cook and a nurse, all of whom are women” had been appointed on “night duty” at the Raj Bhavan.
On Thursday, two civil society groups — Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) and Thma u Rangli (TUR) — conducted a signature campaign and staged a demonstration outside the Shillong Raj Bhavan, demanding immediate removal of the Governor.
The allegations against Shanmuganathan were first published in The Highland Post on January24followingwhichheinteracted with the Shillong Press Clubthroughteleconferencingon Tuesday evening from Itanagar to denythecharges.thepostquoted him as saying that woman employeesofrajbhavanwerelikehis “daughtersandgrand-daughters”.
The Shillong Times quoted Shanmuganathan as saying: “I wanted to meet them (the job aspirants)beforefinalisingthecandidatesandtheyallcame.everyone was there for half an hour. I have got great respect for everyone. I have not done anything wrong.”
Denying allegations that he hadmadephysicaloverturesorinappropriately complimented the women, he was also reported as saying:“no,itisnotright.allthese things are not right. We have selected only one person and some people were not selected and because they were not selected they should not say all these things.”