After Kerala, Tamil Nadu Governor Now Takes On The State Govt.

Desperate to capture the elusive South Indian States, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), that dominates the Centre like a colossus, is using every trick in the book to stymie the functioning of Opposition parties’ governments in the South, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which have been hard nuts to crack.

It is using the office of the Governor to do so.

In Kerala, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had put spokes in the wheel of the Left Front government. In 2022, Khan had demanded the resignation of university Vice-Chancellors appointed by the State government on grounds of procedural violations. He had taken umbrage to a statement made by a minister and asked the Chief Minister to sack him.

In Tamil Nadu, on January 9, 2023, Governor R. N. Ravi had refused to read parts of his speech written by the DMK government because he objected to the glorification of the “Dravidian Model of Governance” saying that there was no such model.

He also omitted Paragraph number 65 which said: “Following the principles and ideals of stalwarts like Thanthai Periyar, Annal Ambedkar, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar, Perarignar Anna and Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar, this government has been delivering the much acclaimed Dravidian Model of governance to its people.”

He also skipped the sentence saying that “Tamil Nadu continues to be a haven of peace and is attracting numerous foreign investments and is becoming a forerunner in all sectors”.

On February 12 this year, Governor Ravi refused to read the speech on “moral and factual” grounds. A Raj Bhavan release said that the Governor had returned the file containing the State government’s draft of his speech advising it to show due respect to the national anthem and play it at the beginning and end of his address.

In Tamil Nadu the tradition has been to play the ‘Tamil Thai Vazhthu’ (Praise to Mother Tamil) in the beginning, and the National Anthem at the end of State events.

The release said that the Governor had written about it in the past to Chief Minister Stalin as well as the Speaker, but the government had chosen to ignore the advice.

“Governor’s address should reflect Government’s achievements, policies and programmes and to inform the House of the cause of its summons and should not be a forum for peddling misleading statements and venting blatantly partisan political views,” the Governor’s statement said.

Earlier in the day, Governor Ravi told the Assembly: “This address has numerous passages with which I convincingly disagree on factual and moral grounds. Me lending my voice to them could constitute a constitutional travesty, hence with respect to the House, I conclude my address. Wish this House a productive and healthy discussion for the good of the people. Vaazhga Tamil Nadu, Vaazhaga Bharatam, Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Nandri”.

The Raj Bhavan’s statement further said that the Speaker had called him “a follower of Nathuram Godse and more”. Thus the Speaker had “lowered the dignity of his chair and grace of the House” with his “unbecoming conduct,” and therefore he left the House with due regard to the dignity of his office

After the Governor walked out, Speaker M. Appavu read out the prepared Tamil version of the address which highlighted the economic growth and societal progress of the Stalin-led government and how it has managed to do that despite the onslaught of multiple disasters over the years. The written speech was adopted, ignoring the Governor’s objections.

Earlier, in a public speech, Ravi had objected to the name “Tamil Nadu” and proposed that it should be substituted by “Tamilaham” as “Tamil Nadu” (Land of the Tamils) smacked of a separate country for the Tamils. His contention was widely condemned as he had exposed his lack of knowledge of the Tamil language.

While being a constitutional head of a State government ruled by an avowedly secular DMK, Ravi had been lecturing publicly on the ‘need to follow the Hindu religion’.

The speech observed that the State was facing a revenue shortfall of ₹20,000 crore per year due to the termination of the GST compensation regime. It expressed disappointment that the Union government had “reneged” on its promise to provide its share for phase II of the Chennai Metro Rail project by delaying its approval for the project.

Contending that “unity in diversity” was under “grave threat” in the country, the speech stressed that the State vowed to take all necessary measures to never permit the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Tamil Nadu.

Cover Photograph: Tamil Nadu Governor R.N.Ravi walks out of the State Assembly