New U.P. Governor sworn in

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, NOV. 24. In a change of guard at the Raj Bhavan, Mr. Vishnukant Shastri was sworn in today as the new Governor of Uttar Pradesh, succeeding Mr. Suraj Bhan who becomes the Governor of Himachal Pradesh. The induction of Mr. Shastri, a retired professor of Calcutta University and known for his literary talents would bring a whiff of change in the Raj Bhavan in the bitterness that is witnessed between the State Government and the Raj Bhavan over the years in Lucknow.

Mr. Shastri, who has had a tranquil tenure in the Raj Bhavan in Himachal Pradesh, was asked by the Centre to swap places with Mr. Suraj Bhan, who had turned too controversial during his two-and-a-half-year tenure in Lucknow, was in direct confrontation with the State Government which was led by his own party, the Bharatiya Janata Party. His pro-Dalit approach apparently angered powerful quarters. Appointments of Vice- Chancellors of his choice and other pronouncements and actions had increasingly embroiled the Raj Bhavan in controversies.

On the eve of his departure, Dalit bureaucrats, including some IAS officers, gave vent to their anger against the transfer and called into question the Centre's decision. It was projected that he was being punished for actively pursuing the Dalit agenda. Mr. Suraj Bhan had also made uncharitable observations about Lord Ram in his public address and once even in the presence of the RSS chief, Mr. K.S. Sudarshan, in a seminar in Lucknow. His refusal to give assent to some bills passed by the Assembly also widened the chasm between the Government and the Raj Bhavan.

The new Governor who was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Mr. Justice S.K. Sen, brings to bear his academic, literary and long political career into office. Born in Calcutta in 1929, he hails from a family of Sanskrit scholars and academicians. He was elected MLA to the West Bengal Assembly on a BJP ticket and later to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

Mr. Shastri said he was taking on the responsibility of the office of the Governor of Uttar Pradesh in all humility and would steer clear of controversies. Besides being the Governor he is also the Chancellor of the State Universities. ``Since I have all along been a teacher in a university, I am aware of the problems in the sphere of higher education. But, it is no Governor's job to run the administration of a university,'' he told presspersons.

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