Facing sexual harassment charges, Meghalaya Governor V Shanmuganathan late on Thursday resigned after a section of Raj Bhavan employees demanded his removal for ‘seriously compromising’ the dignity of the gubernatorial office.
Nearly 100 Raj Bhavan staff here petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking their intervention to remove the Governor and restore the dignity of Raj Bhavan.
The employees had alleged that Shanmuganathan had ‘seriously’ compromised the dignity of the Raj Bhavan and made it a 'young ladies club'.
Here is the full text of the letter:
We would like to draw your kind attention to our grievances against the Governor of Meghalaya, V Shanmuganathan. We feel, he is demeaning the position of the head of the state. He is rude, arrogant, temperamental, and untruthful. Above all, he has seriously compromised the dignity of the Raj Bhavan and unfortunately made the Raj Bhavan into a 'Young Ladies Club'.
We would like to clarify at the onset that we are not interested in his personal life, but when his activities hurt the decorum and prestige of the Raj Bhavan as well as the sentiments of the employees who are very much attached to the Raj Bhavan, it becomes our concern.
From the time he has taken over, the employees are going through severe humiliation, mental stress and torture. To prove the above allegations, we will later give certain facts with papers and photos which we believe will convince you of our charges against the governor. He is in the habit of telling lies. For example he went around telling people that he was alongside our great leader, Former President of India, Late APJ Abdul Kalam during his last breath in Shillong, but in reality he was sleeping in his bedroom and only after the call from the Hon'ble prime minister made him run to Bethany Hospital, Shillong, although, he was advised to visit Late APJ Abdul Kalam earlier. This is just an example; there are many such instances.
He shunted the principal secretary to the governor overnight, who had an impeccable integrity and strong moral character, because he was not supporting the governor in his nefarious activities. After the principal secretary to the governor was removed, he has turned the VVIP's dining room (a very old historical room with a rich legacy) into office and made the incumbent Secretary to sit there and has reshuffled the staffs from the governor's secretariat and made only all the young girls from the secretariat to work for him.
He has transferred his own private secretary, who is a male, to the governor's secretariat when he should be attached personally to the governor. The newly-appointed secretary to the governor does not take any interest and hardly attends office. When some of the lady staff members went to this secretary to complain against the governor's activities and misbehaviour towards them, he simply turned a deaf ear.
The governor insulted, humiliated and psychologically tortured officers and staffs of Raj Bhavan, Meghalaya to such an extent that the then deputy secretary after being severely insulted and humiliated on 28.10.2016, he suffered from brain stroke in the office during office hours and had to be put on Intensive Care Unit & Life Support immediately at Woodland Hospital after the incident and he later succumbed in the hospital on 3.11.2016. It is pertinent to mention that when the late deputy secretary was struggling for life at the hospital, a lunch party was organised by the governor for the employees of Raj Bhavan on the very next day, i.e., the October 29, 2016, wherein half of the employees did not take part due to the grief and sadness of the ill health of the late deputy secretary.
After his death when the governor visited the hospital he was more interested in taking photos and showed no grief. He has distrust towards the Raj Bhavan employees and appointed three Assam Rifles uniformed personnel. He has kept them to look after the kitchen, garden and office, even though we have our own under secretary to look after the office, comptroller of household to look after the functioning of the main building and horticulture development officer to look after the garden, who are all very efficient officers. This shows that he does not trust any staff of the Raj Bhavan who have been working for years with the former governors and never such thing has ever happened in Raj Bhavan in the past.
Due to the virtual absence of the secretary to the governor, and with no deputy secretary, the ADCs to the governor are having a free run and there is no check on them. They are arrogant and boss over other employees and use filthy language which is resented by the staff. The under secretary, who should be controlling the staff, has been completely sidelined.
We can perhaps tolerate all this, but the worst problem is that the Raj Bhavan has now under this governor become a place where young ladies come and go at will with direct orders from the governor. The security of the governor's house is also being seriously compromised. It is well known that many of these ladies have direct access to his bedroom. The ADC's to the governor also know about all the activities happening inside the Raj Bhavan, but they too have turned a blind eye towards the ongoing activities.
After his taking over the following appointments were made: Smti , a lady from Chennai appointed as personal cook. Miss , from Jorhat, Assam appointed as personal assistant and then was given the post of PRO. Both the above employees apart from their salary are, as per directions of the governor, provided with free lodging, food, laundry services, toiletry items, vehicles, and stays in Raj Bhavan as can be seen from the attached photos/videos whereas they are not entitled to such facilities.
P2's relatives and friends, mostly young ladies, are entitled to the same facilities and such visits are quite frequent.
Raj Bhavan already has a permanent medical set up with a doctor and two assistants. Additionally a nurse for day duty has been appointed by the governor. Recently, he has appointed a private nurse on night duty also.
From October 15 to October 25, 2016, a lady so-called nurse was provided free stay, food etc., and finally left as it is alleged that the governor misbehaved with her at night. Other so-called lady nurses also stayed at Raj Bhavan at different points of time.
It is also worth mentioning that whenever the governor is on tour outside the state, he is accompanied by Miss P2, except surprisingly for his visit to his home town Chennai. When Miss P2 is not accompanying the governor on his tour she is enjoying holidays at her home town, Jorhat, Assam. Further, Miss P2 has no office as she works from her bedroom which is attached to the governor's bedroom, named 'Rilang' and handles his Facebook account and other social sites accounts.
When this governor was in-charge governor of Manipur, P2 used to accompany the Governor to Imphal and stay in the same room with the Governor in Raj Bhavan, Imphal.
The governor's immoral activities in relation to women is well-known and can be verified from the staffs of Raj Bhavan, Shillong, the staffs of Meghalaya House, New Delhi and Meghalaya House, Kolkata.
On November 7, 2016, when the 1 female candidates came for their first interview for the posts of PRO, they were surprised to see that only female candidates are being called and when they inquired about it and raised suspicion only after that the next day i.e. November 8,, 2016, five male candidates were called only as a formality. Out of the five, two male candidates were selected for the next interview just as an eyewash.
