Like Maharashtra, relieve Tamil Nadu Governor from Chancellor's responsibilities: MDMK chief

Chennai: Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko, an ally of the ruling DMK here, on Sunday demanded Tamil Nadu should follow Maharashtra in relieving Governor R N Ravi from the responsibilities of chancellor of universities for indulging in "political rhetoric going beyond his authority".

Taking strong exception to Governor Ravi's view that India is not a contractual union like the US but was organically forged and sustained for thousands of years due to shared cultural spiritualities, expressed during the inaugural of the South Zone Vice-Chancellors’ Meet held under the aegis of Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi at Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, on March 11, Vaiko claimed that the Governor exceeded official capacity and indulged in political rhetoric.

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"This is condemnable. The Governor had reflected the RSS and Sangh Parivar view and is talking about what the Delhi bosses are saying. He must explain where India was before 1947," Vaiko said in a statement here. Inaugurating the Meet, the Governor had said "those who talk about federalism and Indian Union should remember that India was not born in 1947 nor it is a contractual union like United States of America."

He said the Union of India was organically forged and sustained for thousands of years by the shared cultural spiritualties of people who lived as one from one end to the other of Bharat irrespective of numerous kings and kingdoms.

"Article 1 of the Constitution of India says India shall be a Union of states. It says ‘India that is Bharat’," he said and added that Bharat has been one living entity since ages, praised by the ancient rishis and common people from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Kutch to Kamrup in their everyday rites and rituals. Quoting a poem of Mahakavi Bharathiar in praise of Bharat Mata that “Bharat Mata speaks in 18 languages but her thinking is one,” he said India is not a contractual Union of disparate people.

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Vaiko pointed out that prior to Independence, the country comprised of only 565 princely states until 200 years ago, before the British arrived. "Before that, even during the Mughal rule, Tamil Nadu was never under the rule of the North Indian kings," Vaiko claimed and said that even during the British rule up to 1947, the present India did not exist. In the south, the Nizam's rule of Hyderabad, which comprised Andhra Pradesh, was a separate state.

The princely state of Mysore, which covers most of Karnataka, was a separate state and so was the princely state of Travancore in Kerala and Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, before 1947. The MDMK general secretary recalled that former Tamil Nadu chief minister C N Annadurai had in his address to the Parliament referred to the country as "a subcontinent."

"I have been emphasising that point in my speeches... So, like the United States of America, I have come up with an individual resolution in Parliament to call this country the United States of India. I have also published it as a book," Vaiko said. He claimed that there was no basis for Ravi to continue in the present position as he had returned the government resolution on freeing the seven persons involved in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.

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"The Maharashtra government has decided to clip the powers of its governor from appointing vice chancellors. Similarly, on behalf of the MDMK, I insist that the Governor be removed from the post of Chancellor of Universities of Tamil Nadu,” he said. He lauded Chief Minister M K Stalin's view at the Meet that the central government exercised its powers to "push its regressive views in syllabus."