Bhagat Singh Koshyari's unconventional journey as Maharashtra Governor

More than a year ago, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, climbed the Shivneri Fort in Pune district in about an hour without any assistance - surprising one and all. In fact, trekkers take more time.

When the Covid-19 pandemic was sweeping Mumbai, among the worst-affected cities during the first and the second waves, Koshyari, the Governor of Maharashtra, was regularly meeting people in the Raj Bhavan - and opened its doors for the common people.

After coming to Maharashtra from the hill state of Uttarakhand, the first thing that he did was to learn Marathi - earning praises.

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Some of his statements courted controversies; he has always been at loggerheads with the Maha Vikas Aghadi, whether it was in government or in Opposition.

Born on 17 June 1942, the RSS veteran and former BJP leader, Koshyari (80) has never hidden his ideology.

The Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress had accused him of toeing the line of the Centre and making the Raj Bhavan a BJP office.

In fact, when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister, breaking protocol, he visited Matoshree, for dinner.

He often wrote to the MVA government on various issues - earning the ire of top leaders.

His statements on icons like legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and social reformer couple Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule landed in controversies.

On Shivaji Maharaj, he had said, "Earlier, when you would be asked who is your icon - Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi used to be the answers. In Maharashtra, you need not look elsewhere as there are so many icons here. While Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is of olden days, there are Babasaheb Ambedkar and Nitin Gadkari who are heroes of present days".

Also Read: Timeline of Maharashtra Governor Koshyari’s remarks that triggered controversy

On the Phules, he said: “…Savitribai was married off when she was ten years old. Her husband Jyotirao was 13 years old. Now imagine, what would the boy and girl have been doing after marriage? What would they have been thinking?…” .

In fact, the tiff between Koshyari and MVA landed at its peak, when he denied permission to fly in a state government plane to Dehradun, the winter capital of Uttarakhand, and deboarded.

However, last year, in a letter to Union Home Minister and BJP stalwart Amit Shah, he had said: "During the Covid-19 pandemic…when many ‘big-big people’ were not stepping out of their homes, at my age, I had gone on a pilgrimage on foot to places like Shivneri, Sinhgad, Raigad, and Pratapgad”.

Bhagatda, as he is affectionately called, was sworn in as Maharashtra Governor on 6 September 2019, days before the 14th Vidhan Sabha polls were announced.

Koshyari had served as national vice president of BJP and the party's first state president for Uttarakhand.

He also served as 2nd Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal) from 2001-2002 and thereafter, he was the leader of the opposition in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly from 2002-2003. He also has been a member of both Houses - serving as an MLA as well as MLC.

He later served as an MP in Rajya Sabha from 2008-2014 from Uttarakhand and then the MP in the 16th Lok Sabha from Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar constituency.

This has earned him the distinction of being elected in both Houses in state and Parliament.

He has had a successful career as a teacher and journalist. He had worked as a lecturer at Raja Inter College, Raja Ka Rampur, Etah district, Uttar Pradesh for a few years. Koshyari is a founder and managing editor of Parvat Piyush, a weekly published from Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand since 1975. He has also published two books, Uttaranchal Pradesh Kyun? and Uttaranchal Sangharsh Evam Samadhan.

He had also been jailed during the Emergency.

The ever-smiling Koshyari always wears a dhoti-kurta and a black topi.