Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi came under attack from various political quarters for his remarks on 'Secularism', which he termed was 'a European concept and there was no need for it in India'. He made the remarks on Sunday during a public event in Kanyakumari. During his speech, Governor Ravi claimed that many frauds have been committed against the people of India with the 'wrong interpretation of secularism' being one of them.
Asking how India can stay away from 'Dharma', he took inferences from the European notion of separation between the King and the church.
“What does secularism mean? Secularism is a European concept, and it is not an Indian concept. In Europe, secularism came because there was a fight between the Church and the king… How can India be away from ‘dharma’? Secularism is a European concept and let it be there only. In India, there is no need for secularism,” the TN Governor said.
His statement, however, drew significant backlash from the opposition leaders, many of whom took to social media platform X to reject assertions made by the Governor.
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Manickam Tagore, Congress MP from Virudhunagar, termed RN Ravi's remarks “unacceptable” and said that it goes against the Constitution of India.
“The statement of Tamil Nadu Governor on secularism is unacceptable and is against the Constitution of India and the Idea of India by Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhai Patel,” Tagore said in his post.
“While the idea of secularism may be different in foreign countries, in India we respect all other religions, we respect all other traditions and we respect all other practices and this is the idea of secularism in India,” he added.
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Tamil Nadu ruling party DMK also expressed dissonance with the statement made by the Governor.
“Secularism is not a European concept, it is an Indian concept as there are many religions in India. India is the motherland of Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism. Secularism is the most needed concept in India, not in Europe,” said DMK leader Elangovan.