Governor or Centre’s agent provocateur?

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has exceeded his powers and failed in his responsibilities with his conduct in the state Assembly on the first day of the current session of the House. The Governor not only refused to read some parts of the customary address at the beginning of the session but introduced some of his own words into it. He also walked out of the House after the Assembly passed a resolution to put on record only the original speech that was prepared by the state government. Governors do not have any power to add to or detract from the speech, which lays down the views and policies of the state government. The rules are clear on this, and it has been the precedent, with rare violations which have been held as wrong and unacceptable. Ravi has unprecedentedly added some words of his own to the speech, which is egregiously wrong.

The powers of the Governor are defined in the Constitution and have been made clear in many Supreme Court rulings. There have been discussions and reports by commissions also on the matter and the consensus is that the Governor has no independent powers and has to abide by the will of the elected government of the state. But the Governors of non-BJP-ruled states in the country are increasingly adopting confrontationist positions with their governments, interfering in administration and trying even to undermine the governments. It is as if they are competing with one another, driven by a sense of competitive loyalism to the central government. Some of them may be goaded by personal ambitions and others by their political and ideological affinity with the ruling party at the Centre. Some of them, including Ravi, have refused to sign legislations passed by state Assemblies, and have talked and acted in the most unreasonable manner. They are doing great harm to federalism, which is an essential feature of the polity. It should be noted that the Governors of BJP-ruled states have no problems with their governments.

The words and expressions that Ravi left out need special mention and their omission raises concern. They are secularism and the Dravidian model and references to leaders like Periyar, Babasaheb Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, C N Annadurai and Karunanidhi. That might show the political preferences of the Governor and his masters, but they cannot be imposed on the states. The Governor considers the Dravidian model as retrograde and he even wants to rename the state as Thamizhagam. As if his conduct on Monday was not enough, on Tuesday, he gave some unnecessary advice to a gathering of civil service aspirants, telling them that in matters of dispute between the Centre and states, they should, without doubt, take the side of the Centre. This is the Governor instigating, acting as the Centre’s agent provocateur. The views and conduct of Governors like Ravi do no good to the country’s federal structure and unity and integrity.