The Tussle Between Secularism and Hindutva: Maharashtra governor’s letter to the CM marks a dangerous precedent

Secularism has gone from being a part of our constitutional to an insult and accusation. 

On October 11, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced that the government would not open places of worship due to the risk of Covid-19. This is reasonable because Maharashtra has the highest tally in the country, both in terms of cases and deaths- 1.5million and 40,000 deaths. The restrictions on opening of religious places will avoid crowding during festivals.

In response to the Maharashtra government’s order, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari shot off a letter to Chief Minister Thackeray, advising him to reopen the places of worship. The Governor went on to take a jibe at the Chief Minister by asking if he is turning “secular” despite the Chief Minister being “a strong votary of Hindutva.”  

The Governor’s letter is a far cry from the constitutional position of his office. That the governor found it fit to interfere in the state government’s work on a matter of public health and safety, is far removed from the actual functioning route of the Governor’s office. The governor has to work with the advice of the council of ministers and not the other way round. 

The governor’s letter was openly partisan and in line with the Bhartiya Janata Party’s political campaign to reopen places of worship. The Maharashtra governor is however not the first constitutional figurehead to be touting the BJP’s rhetoric. West Bengal and Kerala’s governors too have taken up the task. 

The idea of Hindutva and the Hindu nation is not new. It has been in play since the 1920’s after Veer Sarvarkar popularised the term. But with the right-wing party at the helm of the country, it did not take too long for the right to push secularism into a corner, negating the word “secular” enough that it is now an accusation. 

At a time when a constitutional figurehead has no qualms in trying to bully a state’s head by calling him “secular” and trying to invoke his “Hindutva”, it should come as no surprise that online trolling has reached a pinnacle high and perilous enough to force an advertisement celebrating communal harmony to roll back. 

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