Treasury benches force Maha Guv B S Koshyari to wind up his joint address on first day of budget session

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Mumbai: In a first of a kind development in the history of Maharashtra State Legislature, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday was forced to wind-up his customary joint address to both the houses of the state legislature on the first day of the budget session, without even waiting for the national anthem at the culmination of the joint address.

The Governor was forced to curtail his speech, reading out only the first and last pages of the address as legislators from the ruling Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) protested over the alleged controversial remarks by the Governor regarding Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his religious guru Samarth Ramdas Swami.

Speaking to newspersons later at Vidhan Bhavan, state NCP president and Water Resources minister Jayant Patil argued that the MVA MLAs were raising slogans in praise of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators were raising slogans which were bad in taste and which the Governor did not like.

Refuting the NCP ministers charge, BJP chief whip Ashish Shelar blamed the ruling MVA legislators who forced the Governor to abruptly wind up his speech. He added that the only demand of the BJP led opposition has been the resignation of NCP Minorities Affairs Minister Nawab Malik who has been accused of links with fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. Shelar added that the BJP led opposition will not budge an inch from its demand. He added that it was the responsibility of the ruling MVA to ensure smooth functioning of the proceedings of the state legislature.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole demanded that the Governor should apologise for his controversial remarks raising questions over Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his religious guru Samarth Ramdas Swami. He added that the Congress would press for the recall of the Governor.

The Governor during his recent visit to Aurangabad in Marathwada region had spoken about the role of the Guru (teacher) and the King while citing examples of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his religious guru Samarth Ramdas Swami and Chandragupta Maurya. He had contended that nobody would have known about Chandragupta Maurya had it not been for his Guru Arya Chanakya. In the same breath he argued that nobody would have asked of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had it not been for his religious guru Samarth Ramdas Swami. The remarks since then have caused furore all over the state.

This is not the first time that the Governor has had a showdown with the ruling MVA government. The ruling MVA has been at loggerheads with the Governor over the latter withholding the nomination of 12 Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) from the Governors quota.

During the unlocking process in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, Governor Koshyari had been critical of the government over not reopening places of worship. He had sarcastically remarked on Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that a votary of Hindutva had suddenly turned secular. To which the Chief Minister sharply reacted that he did not need a certificate of Hindutva from the Governor.

The MVA government was also agitated over the Governor convening a meeting of government officials to take stock of the preparedness and measures being taken to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. Governor Koshyari had objected to the state government not holding final year exams during pandemic lockdowns and passing the students based on average marks.

The Governor in his opening remarks during his joint address stated that this government was committed to following the high ideals set by exemplars like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other great visionaries. This sparked sloganeering from the MVA legislators who raised slogans ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki jai’, while the BJP legislators were heard raising slogans ‘Nawab Malik Rajinama Do’. Later the proceedings of both the houses were adjourned for the day.