Governor Ravi, CM Stalin face off in Tamil Nadu Assembly

The allies said the protest was to condemn Ravi’s frequent controversial statements

The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed unprecedented scenes on Monday with Governor R N Ravi walking out of the House in a huff as Chief Minister M K Stalin moved a resolution to take “on record” only the text of the former’s customary address circulated among MLAs and not his oral speech which skipped several portions from the prepared script.

The Governor, who was invited to deliver his address at the first session of the year, not just deviated from the prepared text by skipping references to B R Ambedkar, and E V R Periyar, Dravidian model of governance, and law and order situation, but also added a few portions on his own.

After having maintained silence throughout Ravi’s speech and its Tamil translation by Speaker M Appavu, Stalin rose from his chair to disapprove of the Governor deviating from the text prepared by his government.

“It is not only regrettable, but against the rules of the House, that the Governor did not read full text from the prepared script for which he had given his assent,” Stalin said, and moved a resolution to take “on record” only the English speech circulated among legislators and Tamil version delivered by the Speaker.

“I also move a resolution demanding that the portions added by the Governor in contradiction with the prepared text will not go on record,” Stalin said.

At this point, the Governor left the House abruptly and did not even wait for the national anthem to be played – the DMK latched onto this to call Ravi’s act as an “insult” to the nation. The resolution was later passed.

Also Read | Tamil Nadu Opposition slams RN Ravi, terms his actions 'brazen violation' of Constitution

Chants of ‘Vaazhga Tamil Nadu’ rented the air as the Governor left the House, in what is seen as an opposition to his remarks last week that Tamizhagam was a more appropriate name for the state than Tamil Nadu. While allies of DMK, including Congress, boycotted the Governor’s address,

AIADMK staged a walkout immediately after Ravi completed his speech.

P D T Achary, former Secretary-General of Lok Sabha, told DH that the Governor had no business to deviate from the prepared text. “He (the Governor) cannot add even a full stop or comma to the text. The address is a document reflecting the government’s policies and programmes and the Governor has to merely read the text. This is the Constitutional position,” he said.

However, he also said the Chief Minister need not have moved a resolution as only the printed portion of the text goes on record. “He (the CM) need not have moved a resolution because it was not the House. The governor addresses the members of the assembly, and you call it the House only when it is presided over by the Speaker,” Achary added.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde also said the Governor’s address is essentially an exercise of reading out an elected government’s objectives and point of view for the ensuing session. It is also understood, Hegde said, that the speech is not that of the Governor who delivers it but of the government of the day.

“It (the House) has its own procedures and if only the written text circulated among the legislators is approved, then that decision would be immune from review by any Constitutional authority,” he told DH.

Sources in Raj Bhavan said the Governor skipped the portions he felt were “far away from truth.” “The House should have adjourned after the Governor’s address, but the Chief Minister was allowed to move a resolution which is against the convention. That is the reason the Governor left the House,” a source explained.

While the 65th point talked about the Dravidian model of governance, a term coined by Stalin to showcase achievements of his government, and referred to leaders like Ambedkar, Periyar, K Kamaraj, C N Annadurai, and M Karunanidhi, the 12th point was about law and order situation in TN, and the 64th point was about revival of economy and other related issues. Portions of the 7th point the governor missed is about a resolution passed by the Assembly demanding official language status for all state languages.

An ongoing slugfest

In the aftermath of the incident, the TN BJP accused the DMK and alliance partners of acting like “fringe elements” and disrupting the Governor’s address for “petty political gains”, while the AIADMK, as expected, came out in support of Ravi saying the CM’s conduct was “inappropriate.”

DMK allies, NTK’s Seeman, and actor-politician Kamal Haasan accused the Governor of “insulting” the people of Tamil Nadu. While MDMK chief Vaiko demanded that the Governor resign, Speaker Appavu said he doesn’t understand the intentions of Ravi.

The scenes at the Tamil Nadu Assembly during the first session of 2023 will only aggravate the running battle between the DMK government and the Governor.

Briefing reporters later, Industries Minister Thangam Thenarasu said the Governor going against the convention by deviating from the prepared text was wrong.

“The Governor leaving the House even before the National Anthem was played is an insult to the nation. If he had wanted, he could have suggested a few corrections. Moreover, the Governor approved the speech on January 7,” he said, releasing a copy of the letter signed by Ravi.

Thenarasu also sought to know whether the President of India will skip portions of the prepared speech while addressing the Parliament. Thenarasu said the Governor had “ample time” to go through the speech which was sent to him on January 5.

In a series of tweets, TN BJP chief K Annamalai accused the DMK and alliance partners of acting like “fringe elements” and disrupting the Governor’s address for “petty political gains.”

“The Hon’ble Governor cannot be compelled to read out a prepared speech when the context is far from the truth. DMK should be reminded that it is not their party event to mention words like Dravidian Model in the Hon’ble Governor’s speech and still expect him to read it,” he said.