Ramesh Bais was sworn in today as the 22nd Governor of Maharashtra, succeeding Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Acting Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court SV Gangapurwala administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr Bais at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. Mr. Bais took the oath of office in Marathi. The ceremony was attended by State Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Mr Koshyari, who served as the Maharashtra governor from September 2019, resigned last week after a controversial tenure.
Former Jharkhand and Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais has replaced Bhagat Singh Koshyari as Maharashtra Governor after President Droupadi Murmu accepted Koshyari’s resignation from the post. “The President of India has accepted the resignations of Shri Bhagat Singh Koshyari as Governor of Maharashtra and Shri Radha Krishnan Mathur as Lt. Governor of Ladakh,” an official statement by the President’s Secretariat informed on Sunday.
“It was an absolute honour and privilege for me to serve as the Rajya Sevak or Rajyapal of a great State like Maharashtra – the land of saints, social reformers, and valiant fighters. I can never forget the love and affection I have received from the people of Maharashtra during the last little more than 3 years. During the recent visit of the PM to Mumbai, I have conveyed to him my desire to be discharged of all political responsibilities and to spend the remainder of my life in reading, writing and other activities,” the Governor told the PM, as per a press release.
Koshyari came under fire from the Opposition as well as the ruling BJP for his remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji calling him “an icon of the old era”. Persons like the late Dr BR Ambedkar or Union Minister Nitin Gadkari were modern-day icons, he had said.
“Earlier, when you were asked who your icon is, the answers would be Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi. In Maharashtra, you need not look elsewhere (as) there are so many icons here. While Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is icon of the olden days, now there are BR Ambedkar and Nitin Gadkari,” the outgoing Governor had said at an event in Aurangabad in November last year.
Koshyari, on several occasions in the past, has been criticised by the then Maha Vikas Aghadi government for statements on Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and the contributions of the Marwari-Gujarati communities to the development of the state.