The Raj Bhavan’s new role- taking centre stage– Monday, October 19, 2020

Important words used and their meanings

• There was a definite clarity in New Delhi that a Governor need not get involved in the fracas among the political parties and leaders.

Fracas: Noisy quarrel or disturbance

• Hon’ble Jagdeep Dhankar at the Kolkata Raj Bhavan, so far, had the distinction of being the most active licentiate – till his counterpart in the Mumbai Raj Bhavan decided last week to cross all limits of gubernatorial propriety.

Gubernatorial: relating to a governor

• Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s by-now famous letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray, demanding re-opening of the places of worship to the devotees across Maharashtra, is a brilliant but thoroughly unnerving innovation in a Governor’s bag of tricks of over-reach.

Unnerving: Causing someone to loose confidence

• Various Raj Bhavans, of course, have become embroiled in extremely unsavoury controversies over the decade, partly because the Constitution of India does allow a certain discretion to the Governor.

Embroil: causing someone to indulge in an argument or conflict

Unsavoury: Disagreeable; Objectionable, Unpleasent

• In the post-Nehruvian era, as our politics became rough and our politicians rougher, that buddhi eluded most Governors.

Eluded: Escape or Avoid

• The Supreme Court did try, through its judgment in the S.R. Bommai case, to restore some kind of order on the rampant proclivities of Raj Bhavans.

Proclivities: inclination to do a particular thing