Not scared of losing post for raising farmers' issues: Meghalaya governor

Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik on Thursday said he is not scared of losing his post for raising farmers' issues.

"I am fundamentally a farmer. My political training happened under (former prime minister) Chaudhary Charan Singh. And he told me that if you have to leave anything for the farmers, leave, but fight for them and raise their voice," Malik told reporters here during an informal interaction.

He said he is not scared of losing his post for raising the issues of farmers.

Malik said he does not even have a house to live in after retirement.

"That is why I could fight with them (the Centre)," he said.

The Meghalaya governor had earlier criticised the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the handling of the farmers' agitation against three contentious agriculture laws.

He had also batted for a legal guarantee to the minimum support price on crops.

To a question, Malik said the terms of trade are not in favour of farmers in the country.

He was also asked about the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launching a probe last month into the allegation levelled by him that he was offered bribes to clear two files when he was the governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

When a reporter pointed out that now, all the files he had signed as the Jammu and Kashmir governor will be under the CBI scanner, Malik said, "I have no problems with that."

"The CBI has not contacted me, I have said what I had to say. If they ask me, I will tell, because I have nothing to hide," he said to another related question.

Malik was the last governor of Jammu and Kashmir before the erstwhile state was bifurcated into Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh -- in August 2019.