Did you just say this, sir?

Did you just say this, sir? We have to give it to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, who seldom fails to surprise. Nor does his Meghalaya counterpart Tathagata Roy, for that matter. Both like to speak their mind — it does say something about the mind — and for that brief moment when they are addressing the audience, or tweeting in the case of the latter, they can forget or choose to forget who they are and what they are there for.  

Governor Malik may have expressed regret over his remarks — spoken in a fit of anger and frustration, as he put it — after the chorus of condemnation, but what’s done cannot be so easily undone. Speaking in the context of corruption, he had questioned why boys with guns were unnecessarily killing unarmed PSOs and SPOs. ‘Kill those who have looted the wealth of your country and your Kashmir. Have you killed any of them so far?’ he asked. The man holding the highest constitutional office and heading the administration in the absence of an elected government cannot obviously goad militants to kill anyone, that too in a state where politicians and bureaucrats risk their lives to maintain peace. And Governor Roy had this to say last month: ‘Bengal’s greatness has gone and Bengali boys are mopping floors from Haryana to Kerala, girls are bar dancers in Mumbai.’

Frightfully disturbing, to say the least, when coming from those holding offices that have constitutional propriety imprinted on the seat. It’s testing the boundaries of what’s acceptable when upholders of the Constitution play around with its most lofty of ideals: freedom of speech. Malik has arguably one of the most sensitive gubernatorial jobs and the learned and astute politician that he is, he would know of the destructive power of words. There’s always the ear of an aide or one’s own to speak your heart out. If that’s not their thing, maybe memoirs would suit them better after the stint in office.