Bihar Governor gets additional charge
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 20
Veteran Naga leader and politician, Dr Senayangba Chubatoshi Jamir completed his five-year tenure as the Governor of Odisha and retired from office on March 20. He took the oath of office as Odisha Governor on March 21, 2013.
According to a press communiqué from the President's Secretariat on Tuesday, Bihar Governor, Satya Pal Malik has been appointed by President Ram Nath Kovind to additionally hold the office of the Governor of Odisha. Malik will hold the additional responsibility until regular arrangements are made, it added.
A man of all seasons
Popularly known by the honorific SC Jamir, the illustrious career of the 86 year old Naga leader may finally be reaching the end with the completion of his third stint as Governor.
Thrust into politics right after his graduation from Allahabad University when he was elected as the Joint Secretary of the Naga Peoples’ Convention on May 22, 1958, fate had conspired with political acumen to put him right at the core of national and state politics for nearly 6 decades.
In doing so, Jamir has earned his fair share of accolades and prestigious posts, besides many adversaries. Among others, he holds the unique distinction of holding offices under India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and latest Narendra Modi.
His autobiography, “A Naga’s Quest for Fulfillment,” which was released in 2016, vividly recounted such narratives. (Read the Morung Express detailed review here: http://morungexpress.com/nehru-modi-jamirs-quest-fulfillment/) Jamir was one of the signatories to the historic 16 Point Agreement with the Government of India in 1960 that resulted in the creation of the State of Nagaland as the sixteenth State of the Indian Union.
The Members of the Interim Body elected SC Jamir in 1961 to be the Naga representative in the Lok Sabha and thus he holds the distinction of being the first Member of Parliament from Nagaland, which he served for two terms.
First appointed as a Parliamentary Secretary (PS) to Nehru in 1962, he later went to serve the Centre under various capacities.
Notable among them were the post of the Union Deputy Minister of Railways, Labour and Employment, Community Development, Cooperation, Food and Agriculture between 1966 and 1970 during the Prime Ministership of Indira Gandhi. He was a member of the Indian Delegation to UNO in 1962 as Political Advisor and to member of International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1968.
In 1971, Jamir came back to state politics through a by-election from Mongoya Assembly Constituency. Between 1974 and 2003, he served in different capacities and was Chief Minister of Nagaland for a record five times, the longest in the state’s history.
In July 2004, he was appointed as the Governor of Goa and served in that capacity till 2008. He briefly held the additional charge of Maharashtra during the intervening period.
Thereafter, Jamir was appointed as Governor of Maharashtra and sworn in on March 8, 2008 and served till January, 2010. During this period, he held additional charge of Governor of Gujarat from July 24, 2009 to November 26, 2009. Jamir was appointed as Governor of Odisha in 2013.
In the intervening gubernatorial assignments in Maharashtra and Odisha, the five-time Nagaland CM tried to enter state politics by contesting in 2011 bypoll to Aonglenden Assembly Constituency. He lost the poll, putting a temporary blot on his otherwise enviable electoral record in state politics.
Incidentally, according to a PTI report, Jamir delivered the Governor's customary address for opening the Budget session of the assembly on his last day in office on Tuesday. He expressed happiness over the law and order situation in the state and said that Odisha is on the path of inclusive growth.
