Need advisory on swearing-in process, Governor writes to RS chairman, LS Speaker

Days after a controversy erupted over the slogans raised by Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian Udayanraje Bhonsle in Rajya Sabha (RS), Maharashtra Governor Bhagat

Days after a controversy erupted over the slogans raised by Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian Udayanraje Bhonsle in Rajya Sabha (RS), Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Saturday wrote a letter to vice-president and RS chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha (LS) Speaker Om Birla, urging them to issue an advisory that will help to “preserve the sanctity and dignity” of the swearing-in process of elected representatives.

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“Adding names of party leaders or any other person, to whom members owe their faith or allegiance, to the format of the oath-taking violates the sanctity of oath-taking process”, wrote Koshyari in his letter.

“Observing that some of the newly-elected members of Parliament and legislatures are departing from the prescribed form of language for oath-taking and adding the names of their party leaders or venerable personalities while reading oaths, the Governor today urged vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to come up with an advisory to be adhered to in the context of the form and oath being read out by members,” read a statement released by Raj Bhavan on Saturday.

Earlier this week, Bhonsle, after taking his oath in the RS, chanted the “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji” slogan, to which Naidu had expressed his disapproval. Naidu’s disapproval over the slogans drew criticism from Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, who said that the vice-president had insulted Chhatrapati Shivaji.

However, Bhonsle downplayed the incident and clarified that the Rajya Sabha chairman had not insulted the Maratha warrior king. Naidu, too, reacted to the controversy and said that he had only reminded the members of the upper House about the conventional practice and meant no disrespect to anyone.

In his letter, the Governor also mentioned the December 30 incident where he had to intervene and direct Congress legislators KC Padvi and Varsha Gaikwad, who were being sworn-in as ministers of the Maharashtra cabinet, to repeat their oath strictly as per the prescribed format without any addition or deletion.

Padvi, now the tribal development minister, had added a few lines of gratitude to his voters after reading out the written oath text, while Gaikwad, who is the school education minister, had invoked Dr BR Ambedkar’s name while taking her oath.