‘RSS link does not make me partisan’

Malkani says he was informed by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani that his name was rejected by the bigger Congress-ruled states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. But Malkani won’t brood over those refusals. ‘‘Of course, I am a hardcore RSS man. But that doesn’t mean I will act in a partisan manner,’’ he declared.

‘‘If a man is mentally and physically fit and can take an overview of things and is not overtly partisan, there is nothing wrong in appointing him as Governor,’’ Malkani explained. Asked to elaborate what he meant by ‘‘overtly partisan’’, Malkani claimed that he was not identified as a BJP man: ‘‘Everyone has certain conviction but it need not interfere with his public life.’’

According to Malkani, though he had joined the RSS in 1941 and was also associated with the BJP, he was not active in party work. He had instead taken up public issues, he said, and was more of an ‘‘intellectual writer’’.

‘‘I never contested elections. I don’t know whether being a member of the Rajya Sabha qualifies me as a politician. But I was never away from politics and have been busy writing articles on issues of public importance,’’ he explained.

Malkani was sounded of his new posting as the Lt Governor of Pondicherry by Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani last Friday. Though it’s not easy to leave Delhi where he has been living for last 55 years, Malkani sounded excited about moving to Pondicherry. He would be taking the oath as Lt Governor on July 31.