The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which had long been clamouring for the removal of Bhagat Singh Koshyari as Maharashtra’s Governor, on Sunday welcomed the appointment of Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais as the State’s new Governor in the latest gubernatorial reshuffle but said that the decision had come “too late”.
While MVA leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction expressed hope that Mr. Bais would not repeat the same “mistakes” committed by Mr. Koshyari, Kolhapur royal Sambhaji Chhatrapati, a descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, said that Mr. Koshyari ought to have removed from his post at least two months ago.
Last month, Mr. Koshyari, in a statement had said he had conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi his desire to step down from political responsibilities, while expressing his desire to spend the rest of his life reading, writing and engaging in other activities.
Mr. Koshyari’s tenure as the 22nd Governor of Maharashtra (from September 2019 onwards) was stormy. He was frequently accused by the MVA of being an overtly partisan towards the ruling BJP while repeatedly courting controversy with his remarks on the 17th century Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji and other historical personages of the State.
“Finally, Maharashtra has been accorded relief…this is a good decision, but one which should have been taken much earlier. In the history of the State, there has not been such an inept Governor as Mr. Koshyari,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who had earlier hit out at Mr. Koshyari for having “crossed all limits”, said.
Mr. Pawar’s daughter, NCP MP from Baramati Supriya Sule, hoped that the “unfortunate things” said by Mr. Koshyari were not repeated by the new Governor.
NCP State President Jayant Patil said the fact that Mr. Koshyari himself had expressed his desire to step down meant that the BJP in effect supported his insulting remarks against Maharashtra’s great personages.
“He had himself expressed the desire to be freed from the post and now the President [Droupadi Murmu] has accepted his resignation. Mr. Koshyari had continuously insulted Maharashtra’s great men and women. But there were no voices of condemnation from the BJP leadership either in the State or at the Centre. This means that the BJP supports the insults hurled by Mr. Koshyari and are now replacing him after having used him to insult the State,” Mr. Patil said.
During the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA, the then ruling government had accused Mr. Koshyari of deliberately stalling and violating the constitution by avoiding the decision on filling up the vacant posts of 12 members in the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), which has been pending for over two years now.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said that instead of protecting the Constitution, Mr. Koshyari had a played a big hand in legitimising the seizure of power by the “illicit” Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government, which toppled the MVA.
Former MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Chandrakant Khaire claimed that Mr. Koshyari had even confided in him at one point that he was “under pressure” from the BJP.
Stating that the BJP had “defamed Maharashtra” via Mr. Koshyari, State Congress chief Nana Patole said that the new Governor (Mr. Bais) ought not to act like “a rubber stamp” and should treat all parties equally.
Younger leaders within the MVA were even more vocal, with Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray hailing Mr. Koshyari’s replacement as “a big victory for Maharashtra”, while NCP lawmaker Amol Mitkari remarked that Mr. Koshyari had behaved “like a full-time member of the BJP”.
Former MP and Kolhapur royal Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati said that had Mr. Koshyari been removed earlier, “peace would have prevailed” in the State. “The whole of Maharashtra, down to the humblest village unit, was telling that you [Mr. Koshyari] are wrong…We hope the new Governor will study Mr. Koshyari’s mistakes and not repeat them,” he said.
Last month, in a statement issued by the Raj Bhavan, Mr. Koshyari had said it had been “an absolute honour and privilege” for him to serve as Governor of “a great state like Maharashtra — the land of saints, social reformers and valiant fighters”.
“I can never forget the love and affection I have received from the people of Maharashtra during the last little more than three years. During the recent visit of the Prime Minister to Mumbai, I conveyed to him my desire to be discharged of all political responsibilities and to spend the remainder of my life in reading, writing and other activities. I have always received the love and affection from the Prime Minister and I hope to receive the same in this regard,” Mr. Koshyari had said in his statement.
In November 2022, the Governor had faced flak from the Opposition flak allegedly calling Chhatrapati Shivaji “an icon of olden times”.
During his speech at the Dr. Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad in the presence of Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, Mr. Koshyari had said that while Chhatrapati Shivaji was an “icon for an earlier era”, Mr. Gadkari was an icon for the modern generation.
This had led to a massive demonstration by the three MVA parties against Mr. Koshyari.
In 2022, he was again slammed by the MVA and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly mocking 19th century social reformers Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule for “getting married at a young age”. He also stoked controversy when he said Samarth Ramdas was Chhatrapati Shivaji’s “guru”, contrary to historical evidence.
