Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday made a controversial remark by saying that secularism is a European concept that doesn't belong in India.

While speaking at the convocation of Hindu Dharma Vidya Peetham at Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari, the Tamil Nadu Governor said, "A lot of frauds have been committed against 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 further added that the concept of secularism should remain in Europe and there is no need for it 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," the Tamil Nadu Governor said.

RN Ravi came under attack from the ruling DMK over his remarks on secularism. DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan hit out at the Governor, saying that the Governor had not gone through the Constitution of India.

"Secularism is the most needed concept in India, not in Europe... 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," he said.

Lashing out at the BJP, he further said, "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."

CPI leader D Raja condemned the Governor's statement, saying, "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."

Congress, the opposition party at the Centre, also criticised the Governor for his remarks. Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said that he is "only a trial balloon floater" and is echoing what Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to get done.

This isn’t the first time the Tamil Nadu Governor has made such remarks. Last year, he stated that those who aim to divide the country have misrepresented the concept of secularism.

“Our Constitution does not oppose ‘dharma’. It is those who seek to divide the nation who have distorted the meaning of secularism. We need to grasp the true essence of secularism as outlined in our Constitution. Those advocating for the eradication of Hinduism have a covert agenda to fragment the country in collaboration with hostile foreign entities. They will not succeed, as Bharat possesses inherent strength,” the Tamil Nadu Governor said.