New Delhi: The Centre seems to be on damage control mode in Meghalaya after the state’s outspoken governor Tathagata Roy cemented his reputation as a leader with his foot in the mouth with a tweet asking people to go to North Korea if they were not in line with the “divisive” nature of the government.Roy’s comment came on December 13. A President‘s house communiqué, issued on December 16, said Nagaland governor R.N. Ravi would discharge the functions of the governor of Meghalaya “in addition to his own duties, during the absence of leave” of Roy.Roy is no stranger to making offensive and downright hate-filled social media comments, in spite of holding a constitutional position.Though the communiqué doesn’t mention the cause of his sudden leave of absence or when he would likely be back in Shillong to resume duties, BJP leaders in the state and also in neighbouring Assam claim that he “has been asked to go on leave by Centre for further damaging the party’s position in Meghalaya and the Northeast by making such an offensive and also racist comment”.Roy has, meanwhile, retweeted a journalist’s reported missive from the Meghalaya governor’s house, claiming that this is not much more than a routine holiday. He has decried the reports as ‘rumours’.Some concerned people are hearing wild rumours. This is just to reassure them that I am coming back here. https://t.co/ZSHdUN5AyG— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) December 16, 2019On December 13, Roy, who belongs to a family from East Pakistan that had migrated to West Bengal during Partition, took to Twitter in connection with the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.“Two things should never be lost sight of in the present atmosphere of controversy. 1. The country was divided in the name of religion. 1. A democracy is necessarily divisive. If you don’t want it, go to North Korea”.Two things should never be lost sight of in the present atmosphere of controversy.1. The country was once divided in the name of religion.2. A democracy is NECESSARILY DIVISIVE. If you don’t want it go to North Korea.— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) December 13, 2019A PTI report thereafter said, “Those who do not want “divisive democracy” shall go to North Korea: Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy”.Roy, formerly the West Bengal BJP president, took offence to it and reacted on Twitter, “This is NOT what I tweeted! Try to be occasionally a little more truthful!”That is NOT what I tweeted! Try to be occasionally a little more truthful! https://t.co/bonE1XD0nV— Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) December 14, 2019He, however, didn’t explain what he had meant by that comment.But by then, several people from the Northeast, mainly in Meghalaya, expressed that they had taken offence to his comment. Importantly, that day itself, state chief minister Conrad Sangma led a delegation to Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, seeking the Centre’s cooperation to prod Roy to give assent to a bill passed by state assembly to put in place a registration mechanism for non-residents entering the state. Roy has been reportedly sitting over the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2019.The delegation also sought complete exemption of the state from the ambit of the Act. The Act states that the areas of the state under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution would not be included in it. However, some parts of the state are not under the Schedule.On December 14, reacting to Roy’s latest comment, the state unit of the Congress and Meghalaya People’s Labour Union demanded that Roy be recalled to New Delhi for insulting the people of the state taking part in the protest. A huge student-led procession had reached the Raj Bhavan to demand that he gives assent to the Act passed by state assembly.The state unit of BJP too condemned the North Korea comment. BJP MLA Sanbor Shullai told PTI that the issue would be raised with the party’s central leaders.In 2017 too, when he was serving as Tripura governor, state BJP unit leaders expressed their displeasure at Roy’s tweets to central leaders and accused him of doing “too little” to help the party win a crucial election in the state. Roy was shifted to Meghalaya before he could even finish his term.Also read: Is the Twitter-Happy Tripura Governor Being Reined in by the PMO?In February, 2019, the CPI(M) demanded Roy’s sacking after he made a polarising statement on Twitter, this time attacking Kashmiris. Both Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, also took offence to his comment on Kashmiris.In April, senior minister in the Narendra Modi government, Rajnath Singh, reportedly asked Roy not to make any political comments on social media.