CHENNAI: In a few weeks, Governor RN Ravi will complete one year in office, and throughout that period, he has been courting controversies and at loggerheads with the DMK government for one reason or another. Many political parties have accused him of acting like a politician and going beyond the ambit of a Governor as defined in the Constitution. Some had even called him the super chief minister.
Governors in TN didn’t always get along well with elected governments. Even Ravi’s predecessor, Banwarilal Purohit, was no exception. He, however, never expressed his views on policy matters of the government.
On the contrary, Ravi continues to make political statements, and his extolling of Sanatana dharma and terming of Popular Front of India (PFI) as a “very dangerous organisation” made many believe he is echoing the views of the RSS. To top them all, his delay in clearing several bills has earned him wide criticism.
His latest remark that drew flak from political circles is about Tamil scholar GU Pope. Speaking at an event in New Delhi on Thursday, Ravi said the British East India Company evangelised India, and missionaries like GU Pope, who first translated Thirukkural into English, presented a de-spiritualised version of it.
“The translation was done with the colonial objective to trivialise the spiritual wisdom of India,” he said.
Professor Ramu Manivannan, honourary director, Multiversity - Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Vellore, said: “Ravi isn’t a scholar to comment on Thirukkural, which is to Tamils what Rabindra Sangeet is to Bengalis. As a Governor, he should have been more careful while commenting on such a work.”
“Since December 2016, Raj Bhavan has been a camp office for the BJP and the RSS ... He is getting involved in religious politics of India and provoking religious sentiments in TN. In fact, he wants to run a parallel government and is playing Hindutva politics,” he alleged, adding that being a representative of the Centre was one thing and being a representative of a political party in power, was another.
Ravi completely undermined the Aryan-Dravidian race concept, saying there was only geographical division between the northern and southern parts of the country. There were many races in this country and Ravi was pretending to be ignorant of it, Manivannan said.
Political analyst Tharasu Shyam said the views expressed by Ravi were totally unbecoming of a Governor. “He should be transferred. Tamil Nadu has been a peaceful state and this Governor is trying to ruin it.”
Pope remarks draw flak
Ravi’s criticism that GU Pope despritualised Thirukkural in his English translation has drawn criticism from political leaders in TN. Pazha Nedumaran, president of Thamizhar Desiya Munnani, took a strong exception to Ravi’s remark that Tamil scholar GU Pope, who first translated Thirukkural into English, presented a de-spiritualised version of it.
He termed as baseless the Governor’s belief that Pope translated Thirukkural in a wrong way because he was a Christian missionary. Pope had also translated Saivaite work Thiruvachakam in an excellent manner, he said.
“Governor’s remarks show that he is ignorant of facts. Also, he has tried to give a Vedic colour to Thirukkural. He should keep quiet about Tamil literature and culture,” Nedumaran added.
TNCC president KS Alagiri said: “As usual, the Governor spat communal poison during a Delhi function to show that he is a staunch RSS man. His charge that Pope de-spiritualised Thirukkural is wrong.” CPM MP Su Venkatesan also condemned the Governor’s remarks on GU Pope.
