Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi whose tenure as Governor in Nagaland ended up in sore has once again landed in the eye of a political storm, this time for omitting some sections from a speech he made in the state Assembly on Monday, 9 January.
Ravi cut short the speech, the text of which the state government, as per convention, had given him, to exclude some key points.
This led to Tamilnadu Chief Minister MK Stalin moving a resolution against Ravi in the Assembly and the Governor leaving the venue amid protests.
But the controversy began when the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the party’s allies led a protest, before the session began, against Ravi favouring the term ‘Thamizhagam’ or ‘Tamilagam’ instead of Tamil Nadu to refer to the state at an event hosted at Raj Bhavan on 4 January.
The high drama on the floor of the House soon snowballed into a heated debate online between the supporters and critics of the ruling DMK, even as “#GetOutRavi” was trending on Twitter, with many calling for the ouster of Ravi from the gubernatorial post.
The DMK-dominated House had convened for the first session of the year with the Governor’s customary address to the members, which the main opposition AIADMK dubbed as a “disappointment,” and said it was “indecent” on the part of the CM to have “spoken” when the Governor was seated, alluding to the resolution moved by Stalin.
The ruling DMK is set to politically raise the issue of Tamil Nadu Governor interfering in the functioning of the state government, a senior party leader said on Tuesday.
The Governor skipping a paragraph while reading out his speech in the state Legislative Assembly on Monday has turned into a catalyst for the DMK to raise the issue across the state and to make it a discussion among the people.
While speaking to IANS, the party leader pointed out, “The Governor has been dancing to the Centre’s tune and the DMK cannot sit idle when Tamil pride has been insulted by a person who has no knowledge about our legacy and our Dravidian ideology.”
Governor R.N. Ravi, while addressing the first session of the state Legislative Assembly on Monday, skipped the paragraph mentioning the names of Dravidian ideologues E.V Ramasamy Periyar, Dr B.R. Ambedkar and former Chief Ministers K. Kamaraj and C.N. Annadurai. While the Governor also skipped reading the name of Kalaignar Karunanidhi, he read it in another line.
Immediately after the Governor’s address, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin came out strongly against this and moved a resolution for reading the full text of the written speech that was handed over to the Governor. The resolution was passed and Assembly Speaker M. Appavu read it out.
With the political parties commencing campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the DMK aiming for all the 39 seats from the state, the party is planning to take up the campaign against the Governor and target the Union government led by the BJP.
On Monday, Assembly Speaker Appavu told mediapersons that the Governors of BJP-ruled states were abiding by the cabinet of their states while the Governors in non-BJP ruled states were hostile.
The party is also highlighting the issue of the Governor walking out of the house when the Chief Minister was speaking after moving the resolution against the Governor’s speech.
The Speaker while speaking to media persons said that the Governor had insulted the National Anthem as he had walked out of the Assembly before the National Anthem was played.
