Reading between the lines: PM Modi's state Governor picks

The Narendra Modi government has made record women gubernatorial appointments and a record number of SC, ST and OBC governors.

Eight states in India on Tuesday got their new Governors, four of whom were assigned to new states.

A closer look reveals that a significant number of gubernatorial assignments have been given to those hailing from Scheduled Caste communities. This includes new Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, who is among the Bharatiya Janata Party's tallest SC leaders and a former cabinet minister. 

Rajendra Arlekar, who will now become the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, has represented Pernem in the Goa assembly. 

Even the Scheduled Tribe community has found representation in the new changes with Mangubhai Patel, who is a long-standing leader of the tribal communities with years of political experience in Gujarat, now being named as Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Anusuiya Uikey is already serving as the Governor of Chattisgarh.

Pushing for social equality, the Prime Minister has ensured that governorships also held by leaders who have worked for OBC aspirations.

Phagu Chauhan, who belongs to the Lonia community is the Governor of Bihar. Ramesh Bais will now become the Governor of Jharkhand. Bandaru Dattatraya will be the Governor of Haryana after a stint in Himachal Pradesh. Ganga Prasad Chaurasiya is Governor of Sikkim. Tamilisai Soundararajan serves in Telangana with the additional charge of Puducherry. 

For the first time in India's history, three Governors belong to the Jat community. These include Jagdeep Dhankar, who is Governor of the West Bengal, Acharya Devvrat, who is Governor of Gujarat and Satyapal Malik, who is serving as Meghalaya Governor. 

India also has two Governors from the Muslim community in Arif Mohammad Khan, the Governor of Kerala, and Najma Heptulla, the Governor of Manipur.