Sharad Pawar has reacted strongly to Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s letter to Uddhav Thackeray.
New Delhi:
The head of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, has reacted strongly to the letter from Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray regarding the reopening of places of worship. Shiv Sena’s ally wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he was “shocked and surprised” by the language used by the governor.
“I should mention here that I agree that the Honorable Governor may have his independent views and opinions on the matter. I also appreciate the Governor’s prerogative to convey his views to the Chief Minister. However, I am shocked and surprised to see the governor’s letter released to the media and the type of language used in the letter, “he said in the letter to PM.
They made me known through the media a letter written by the Hon. Governor of Maharashtra al @CMOMaharashtra
In this letter the Hon. The governor has requested the intervention of the Chief Minister to open religious places to the public. pic.twitter.com/1he2VOatx3
– Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) October 13, 2020
On Monday, the governor wrote to Uddhav Thackeray “requesting him to immediately announce” the reopening of places of worship with Covid precautions. “You have been a great devotee of Hindutva. You had publicly manifested your devotion to Lord Rama by visiting Ayodhya after assuming the post of Chief Minister. You had visited the Vitthal Rukmini Mandir in Pandharpur and performed the puja at Ashadhi Ekadashi,” wrote Koshyari. .
“I wonder if they are getting some divine premonition to keep putting off reopening places of worship over and over again or if they have gone ‘secular,’ a term they hated.”
The Chief Minister replied that his Hindutva did not require a certificate from the Governor or anyone else and that he would make a decision after careful consideration. “Did you say that I am receiving divine premonitions? Maybe you do, but I am not that great,” he wrote in Marathi.
Thackeray reminded the governor that reopening temples or delaying it “is not a matter of secularism” and questioned whether Koshyari had forgotten his own constitutional oath.
“Have you forgotten that you also swore by the constitution that it also has the word ‘secular’. Are you rejecting it? Reopening temples is not secular and keeping them closed is secular?” he said.
Mr. Pawar, in the strongly worded letter, further wrote that the governor’s letter “invokes the connotation” as if it were written for a political leader.
“I am sure you too would have noticed the intemperate language that has been used. In the preamble of our Constitution the word ‘secular’ is added which equates and protects all religions and therefore the Chief Minister’s president must uphold such principles of The Constitution. Unfortunately, the letter from the Hon. Governor to the Chief Minister invokes the connotation as if it were written for the leader of a political party, “he added.
Pawar, whose party is part of the alliance that governs the state, backed Thackeray’s response to the governor.
“… the tone and tenor used must always be in keeping with the stature of the constitutional office held by individuals. Looking at the turn of events, the Chief Minister, in fact, had no choice but to make his response known to the Honorable Governor in the press. I fully support the Honorable Chief Minister’s decision on this issue, “he wrote.
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