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Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday sparked a debate by saying that secularism is a European concept that doesn't belong in India.
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi while addressing the people in a convocation of Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetham at Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari, said "Lot of frauds have been committed to the people of this country, and one of them is that they have been given a wrong interpretation of secularism. What does secularism mean!? Secularism is a European concept; secularism is not a Bhartiya concept." He also stated that secularism is a European concept and should remain there as there is no need of secularism in India. "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," he said. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi's remarks on secularism has stirred a debate with the ruling DMK critical of the Governor "Secularism is the most needed concept in India, not in Europe. Particularly the Governor, he had not gone through the Constitution of India. Article 25 says that there should be a conscious freedom of religion that he doesn't know...He should go and read the constitution fully...22 languages are listed in our constitution. Hindi is a language which is spoken by a few states. The remaining states speak other languages...The problem with the BJP is that they neither know India, nor the Constitution...They don't know anything. That is why they could not even form a government on their own," said DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan. CPI leader D Raja took on the Governor saying that secularism was needed to keep religion and politics separate. "I strongly deplore the statement made by RN Ravi. What does he know about secularism? What does he know about India? He is a governor...he must abide by the Constitution. The Constitution of India defines India as secular democratic republic...Dr BR Ambedkar emphatically rejected theocratic concept...Ambedkar went to the extent of saying, if at all Hindu Rashtra becomes a fact, that will be a calamity for the nation...secularism means keeping religion and politics separate...don't bring Gods for electoral purposes," D Raja said. This is not the first time the Tamil Nadu Governor has made such a statement. Last year, he said that the people who want to break this country have given a distorted interpretation of secularism. "Our Constitution is not against 'dharma' ...it is the people who want to break this country, they have given a distorted interpretation of secularism. We have to understand the true meaning of secularism in our constitution.... those talking about eradicating Hinduism have a hidden agenda to break this country in collaboration with hostile foreign powers. They will not succeed as Bharat has inherent strength," the Tamil Governor said. (ANI)
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