Not once, but twice, on the floor of Lok Sabha in the past two months, DMK Parliamentary Party leader T R Baalu stridently pushed for the recall of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, accusing him of “sitting on the bills” passed by the Assembly and “going against” the Constitution and principles of federalism.
Ravi, a former IPS officer who was transferred from Nagaland to TN Raj Bhavan in September last year, and the DMK government led by M K Stalin are engaged in a running feud over the former not giving his assent to eight bills, including the one that seeks to provide an exemption from NEET for students from the state, passed by the 16th Assembly.
As the battle between the two fits of rage in Chennai, the issue continues to have its resonance in New Delhi with Baalu, often joined by his friends from Congress, demanding Ravi’s ouster from Tamil Nadu in Lok Sabha.
A party that is known for its pathological dislike of the post of Governor – the party’s founder C N Annadurai had remarked that the post is as redundant as a beard is to a goat – the DMK had in the past opened fronts with several occupants of the Raj Bhavan. In 1976 and 1991, the DMK lost its governments after the then Union Governments invoked Article 356.
In 2001, the party succeeded in getting then Governor Fatima Beevi recalled by the then NDA Government led by A B Vajpayee of which DMK was a constituent. While Beevi was recalled after DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s midnight arrest in July, the party had been pushed for her ouster ever since she administered the oath of office and secrecy to J Jayalalithaa despite her conviction in a corruption case.
Cut to the present. Inside and outside the Assembly, DMK has accused the Governor of not giving his assent or forwarding to the President bills such as reducing the tenure of elected members of cooperative societies from five to three years and those relating to the functioning of state-funded universities, thereby “obstructing” the functioning of an elected government.
In fact, Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said in all, 19 bills, are pending before the Governor or the Union Government and wondered whether the Centre was putting “our efforts on hold just because they cannot do better than us.”
Though the two sides never shared the best of relations, the Governor returning the NEET bill passed by the Assembly in September last year set the ball rolling for a public confrontation. Within days, Chief Minister Stalin got the bill re-enacted in the Assembly on February 8 and sent it to the Raj Bhavan the same evening. Stalin also met the Governor last month to urge him to send the bill to the President.
And Governor Ravi batting for the introduction of Hindi, albeit indirectly, and his remarks on the DMK referring to the Centre as Ondriya Arasu (Union Government) added further fuel to the fire.
Even as the Governor remains indifferent, the DMK is consistent in its attack against him – it is the party organ, Murasoli, that does the job most times by publishing hard-hitting articles against Ravi. In an article published in January, Murasoli “reminded” the Governor that Tamil Nadu was not Nagaland.”
A senior DMK leader said: “We have nothing personal against the Governor. Our CM has made it clear. We are opposing him as he is not following the procedure. He can’t keep us waiting for long. If he takes months to sign the legislation, how are we supposed to run the government.”
In rare participation in media stories, the Raj Bhavan was quoted as saying in an article by BBC Tamil published from New Delhi on April 4 that the Constitution has empowered the Governor to refer a Bill to the President only if he feels satisfied with it. “There is no time limit for the Governor to decide on bills,” Raj Bhavan was quoted as saying.
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