Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came down heavily on Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi after he refused to read the state government's customary address in the Assembly on Monday. DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan alleged that Governor Ravi is unaware of the customs followed in the state that he is serving.
He said that the policy of the state government is given to the governor to read in the customary speech and questioned the governor's refusal to read them out. "He doesn't know where Tamil Nadu is. He must first find out where Tamil Nadu is because for the past 25 years the Tamil anthem was the first thing that was sung in the Assembly before the Governor's address. And then finally the national anthem will be sung. That has been the practice for more than 20-25 years since the Tamil anthem was introduced. Who is he to agree with what is in the Governor's address?," Elangovan said while speaking to ANI on Monday.
DMK: Guv being mocked by people
Drawing parallels with the presidential address in Parliament, Elangovan said that the party running the government decides on what the address is. "The policy of the state government is given to the governor to read it out in the assembly. Whether he reads it or not, let him become part of the assembly proceedings. It is the party that is running the government which has made certain promises to the people who have elected them. It is for them to decide on what the address is," the DMK leader said.
"Even in parliament, the presidential address is prepared by the government cabinet, not by the president. He is already being mocked by many people. He's becoming a joker," he added. State BJP vice president Narayanan Thirupathy said the Governor was well within his rights to skip portions of the address that had wrong information.
"The Governor has said repeatedly that the national anthem should be played both at the start and end of the assembly session. What is the problem in doing that? If there are wrong statistics ( in the address) the Governor has the right to omit or deny them" Narayanan Thirupathy said.
AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami however refused to wade into the controversy saying it was a matter between the Governor and the DMK.
'Issue between Governor & state government'
"The Governor requested that the National Anthem be recited at the beginning of the session of Tamil Nadu Assembly. After his suggestion was ignored, he refused to make the customary address. This is an issue between the Governor and the state government" Palaniswami said.
Earlier in the day, the first session of the year 2024 of the Tamil Nadu Assembly saw unprecedented scenes when Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi refused to read the customary address prepared by the government on "factual and moral grounds."
The governor refused to accept the customary address prepared by the government and said few remarks, which were later expunged from the Assembly records. Governor Ravi then walked out of the assembly before the session concluded and without waiting for the customary singing of the National Anthem. Tamil Nadu assembly speaker M Appavu responded to the governor's remarks, which were also later removed from Assembly records.
After this, the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a resolution to only take the approved English and Tamil speech of the Governor on the Assembly record. Similar scenes were witnessed last year on January 9, 2023, when Governor RN Ravi walked out in a rush following the adoption of a resolution moved by Chief Minister MK Stalin that sought to expunge, from house records, whatever the Governor spoke outside the customary government-prepared address. Soon after the Governor completed his speech, a resolution to exclude a certain portion of the speech was adopted by the Assembly, which then prompted the Governor to leave the assembly in a hurry.
