Shiv Sena slams Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, asks PM Narendra Modi to recall him

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s ruling party Shiv Sena has made a blistering attack on the state’s Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and accused him of acting against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

In a strongly worded editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the party said, “Bhagat Singh Koshyari has shown how a person sitting on the post of the Governor should not behave. He may have been a ‘Sangh Pracharak’ or a leader of the BJP. But today he is the Governor of a progressive state like Maharashtra, he seems to have forgotten this thing at his convenience...The Governor sending a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is an unreasonable step."  

It may be recalled that Koshyari had recently written a letter to Uddhav Thackeray asking him if he had "suddenly turned secular". The party also questioned the timing of the Governor`s letter to the Chief Minister and accused him of forwarding BJP`s agenda.

"The BJP started a protest to open the temples in the State. The Governor was not required to participate in that political movement. As soon as the BJP`s movement started, the Governor wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The letter reached the newspapers during the course of its journey to the Chief Minister," the party said.

Shiv Sena went on to say that Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari should be recalled if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah wish to preserve the "prestige" of Raj Bhavan.

The Saamana editorial said that the BJP has been "exposed" in this issue. “Using the Governor's office to attack the state government has proved costly for the opposition party in Maharashtra,” the party added.

Restaurants have opened with strict COVID-19 safety protocol, but reopening temples will see crowding, it said. If the BJP wants temples to reopen, then there should be a national policy, it said. Several important temples in the country are closed, it added.

The editorial justified the Chief Minister's response to Koshyari's letter. "Even the gods must be ringing the temple bells in happiness," it said. If the sound of ringing bells has reached PM Modi and Shah, then they will recall the Governor to preserve the prestige of Raj Bhavan," the editorial said.

Koshyari and Thackeray are locked in a bitter war of words after the former pushed for the re-opening of places of worship in the state closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and asked the latter whether he has suddenly turned secular.

Thackeray responded to Koshyari's letter saying he will consider the request but asserted he does not need the governor's certificate for "my Hindutva" even as BJP workers held protests outside temples in various cities in the state demanding reopening of places of worship.

NCP president Sharad Pawar also waded into the row between the two constitutional functionaries and wrote to PM Modi expressing shock over the "intemperate language" used in the governor's missive to the chief minister.

The spat erupted after Koshyari wrote a letter to Thackeray about representations received by his office demanding re-opening of places of religious worship, shut since March-end in view of the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown.

In his letter on Monday, Koshyari told Thackeray it is "ironical that while on one hand, the state government permitted the opening of bars, restaurants and beaches, our gods and goddesses have been condemned to stay in the lockdown."

Responding to the letter, Thackeray on Tuesday wrote to the governor, saying the state government will consider his request to reopen these places.

The chief minister said a decision on reopening places of worship, a demand being vociferously made by the opposition BJP, will be taken after careful consideration of the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra, which tops among states in the number of cases and deaths.