Newsmaker: Governor who had frequent run-ins with Baghel govt, Anusuiya Uikey moves to Manipur

“A hearty welcome to Sushri Anusuiya Uikey Ji on being appointed as the new Governor of Manipur. I am confident that the people of Manipur will see great progress under your leadership. Also, I extend best wishes to Shri La Ganesan Ji on his new post as Governor of Nagaland,” he tweeted.

On Twitter, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, whose administration shared a stormy relationship with Uikey, also congratulated her. “Our current Governor Ms Anusuiya Uikey ji will now fulfil her new constitutional responsibility as the Governor of Manipur. Best wishes to her. Personally, I consider her my elder sister. I will always be pained that the BJP did not allow her to act according to her sentiments.”

The Baghel government had constant confrontations with Uikey over pending Bills, the most recent being the one to raise the state’s reservation quota for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) to 76 per cent in government posts as well as for seats in educational institutions. Returning the Bills, Uikey had said there was no question of clearing them till she got “proper answers” to 10 queries she had raised.

At the time, a miffed CM Baghel accused her of being “unconstitutional”, “egoistic” and of “stalling the Bills at the behest of the BJP”, before calling a mega rally in Raipur to show “people’s support for the Bills”.

The state government also approached the High Court with a writ petition against the Union of India and the Governor, alleging that by stalling the Bills, Uikey was acting contrary to Article 200 of the Constitution.

Subsequently, the High Court served a notice to the Raj Bhavan secretariat on February 6, asking for a reply to the government’s petition. Uikey filed a petition in response and got a stay order from the High Court on its previous order. She too cited the Constitution, Article 361 of which states that the President or Governors are not answerable to any court.

The Chhattisgarh government’s first brush with Uikey happened eight months into her appointment as Governor when, in March 2020, she stood steadfast to ensure the appointment of the editor of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece Panchjanya as the vice-chancellor of a university. In October 2020, she rejected the Congress government’s proposal to convene a special Assembly session to introduce a Bill to circumvent the Centre’s three controversial farm legislations (which were later taken back by it)

These were not the only laws passed by the Baghel government that Uikey blocked. There are at least five other Bills she had sat on since 2020. Rejecting the charge that it showed Uikey’s partisanship as Governor, a source in the Raj Bhavan told The Indian Express in January, “Since she became Governor, 82 Bills have come to her. She has passed 73 of them, or over 90 per cent. She has strong reasons to stall the others.”

Neither did her confrontations end with the reservation Bills fracas. Just weeks ago, Uikey took “strong exception” to the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) “bias” in not extending an invitation to her for the second ODI played between India and New Zealand in Raipur.

Born to a middle-class family – she has six siblings and their father worked as a patwari (record keeper) in the revenue department – Uikey did post-graduation in economics and enrolled in law before getting involved in student politics. It was a big step for the family as Uikey convinced her father to let her study further. She stayed in a tribal hostel and sold washing powder to meet her expenses, according to an acquaintance.

In 1982, Uikey joined as a lecturer in a government college but by 1985 she had taken the political plunge with the Congress, reportedly spotted by veteran Congress leader Kamal Nath. That same year, a 28-year-old Uikey was elected from Damua, an ST-reserved seat in Chhindwara. Soon afterwards, she became the youngest member of the Madhya Pradesh council of ministers, given the charge of the Women and Child Development Ministry.

Underlining how confident she was even then, a former Congress leader from her hometown said, “When she was denied a ticket the next time by Kamal Nath (around 1990), she left the party.” A person close to her said Uikey left the Congress as she felt she was “being dominated”.

Within the BJP, she was quickly made a member of the party’s National Council. Rising rapidly through the ranks, a year later in 1994, she became an executive member of the BJP national Mahila Morcha. Soon, she became the national vice president of the BJP’s tribal front and then a state office-bearer of the BJP Yuva Morcha. She was a member of the National Commission for Women from 2000 to 2005) when she took up the issues of tribal women and served as the president of the Madhya Pradesh Scheduled Tribe Commission from January to March 2006. From April 2006 to April 2012, she was a member of the Rajya Sabha and was part of several parliamentary committees.

Before she was appointed Governor, Uikey was briefly considered for the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat to take on Nakul Nath, the son of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, in the 2019 general elections. Last year, the BJP also considered Uikey for the post of President but eventually went with another Adivasi leader, Droupadi Murmu.