HYDERABAD: Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, who recently rejected nominations of two BRS leaders as MLCs under the Governor quota, on Saturday declared: “When stones are thrown at me, I will build my fort with those stones. If pins are pricking me, I will soak my pen in blood and write my history.”
The Governor was addressing a meeting at Raj Bhavan organized to celebrate the passage of the women’s reservation bill in Parliament and receiving Presidential assent on Friday. Women from various walks of life attended the event.
Dr Soundararajan said, “Whether you are given protocol or not, be brave. Do your work, nothing will halt you. If you give me a flower, I will receive it. If you are turning your back (on me), I will move faster. If there are thorns in my way, I will move them aside and go ahead. When stones are thrown at me, I will build my fort with those stones. If pins are pricking me, I will soak my pen in that blood and write my history.”
Nothing, she added, could halt or prevent her from doing her duty. “Whatever criticism I face, I am satisfied I am doing everything for the people,” she said.
In an apparent reference to the criticism from BRS that she was a politician before she became Governor, following her rejection of nominations of two BRS leaders, she said “I don’t hide my political past. I was a politician, some of the people in Telangana say you are a political leader. That is history. Now I am in an administrative post, I don’t shy away, it is a fact.”
Though she did not name BRS working president and minister K.T. Rama Rao, the Governor alluded to his recent comments on the bill, saying, “There is one local leader who said if his constituency is reserved for women, he will prepare his wife to contest from there. I don’t want to name this politician.”
Dr. Soundararajan welcomed the passage of the bill and called on women to grab the opportunity and prepare themselves to enter politics and social service. “Women should claim their place and not just be satisfied with the reservations,” she said.
Recalling a conversation she had with a leader, the Governor said one man said politics was dominated by manpower and muscle power. “Hereafter, it will be decided by ‘Mahila power’ also,” Dr Soundararajan quipped.
