Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi walked out of the state assembly Monday without delivering his customary address for the first session of the year over the alleged insult of the Indian National Anthem and the Constitution.
Governor Ravi had arrived at the assembly around 9.25 am for his address scheduled for 9.30 am. However, soon after the Tamil Thai Vazhthu—the state anthem—was played, Congress MLAs, including K. Selvaperunthagai, and Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi leader T. Velmurugan began raising slogans against the governor for acting against the interests of the state.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs, including party general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, also raised slogans against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led government with respect to the Chennai sexual assault case, demanding free and fair inquiry.
The governor requested the MLAs to be seated and stay silent until the national anthem is played. However, as the MLAs continued protesting, he walked out.
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Speaker M. Appavu then proceeded to read out the governor’s customary address and the assembly passed a resolution that the customary speech was delivered.
Within minutes of the governor leaving, a statement by Raj Bhavan on X said that the Constitution and the National Anthem had been “insulted” in the Tamil Nadu assembly “once again”.
“Respecting the National Anthem is among the first Fundamental Duty as enshrined in our Constitution. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end of the governor’s address. Today on the arrival of the Governor to the House, only Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu was sung,” the post read.
It was also alleged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and speaker Appavu “refused” to sing the National Anthem, despite being reminded that it was the House’s Constitutional duty.
“It is a matter of grave concern. Not to be a party to such brazen disrespect to the Constitution and the National Anthem, the Governor in deep anguish left the House,” Raj Bhavan’s statement further read.
The Constitution of Bharat and the National Anthem were once again insulted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly today. Respecting the National Anthem is among the first Fundamental Duty as enshrined in our Constitution. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end…
— RAJ BHAVAN, TAMIL NADU (@rajbhavan_tn) January 6, 2025
However, according to political commentator Priyan Srinivan, it was an excuse by the governor to avoid reading the speech prepared by the state cabinet ministers.
“It is an established and known custom in Tamil Nadu’s assembly that the Tamil Thai Vazhthu is sung at the beginning of the governor’s address and the National Anthem at the end. That’s how it has been all these years. The governor did not want to read the address prepared by the government. Hence, he is using the National Anthem issue as an excuse,” Priyan told ThePrint.
DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said that it was just an extension of the governor’s activities against the DMK government. “If he is really not interested in serving the interests of the people, he can very well leave the state. He is not just insulting the ruling party, but also the legislative assembly members elected by the people of this state.”
This is not the first time that Governor Ravi and the Tamil Nadu government have been embroiled in a tiff over the customary speech.
In 2023, although the governor read out the full speech prepared by the cabinet, he had skipped a few names and words, like ‘Ambedkar’, ‘Periyar’, ‘Kalaignar’, ‘Dravidian’ and ‘Dravidian model of governance’. However, Chief Minister Stalin went on to pass a resolution that the full transcript of the speech prepared by the government would go in the assembly records.
Similarly, last year, he had refused to read the speech claiming that the address had numerous passages that he disagreed with on factual and moral grounds, and that lending his voices to them would lead to a Constitutional travesty.
Stalin then again passed a resolution that the transcript of the address prepared and circulated to the members would be considered as read in the assembly. When the chief minister was moving the resolution, the governor had left before the National Anthem was sung.
This year, the speech prepared by the Tamil Nadu government largely had mentions of the government schemes introduced by the DMK-led establishment. It also emphasised the need for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government to conduct a national-level population census and caste census.
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