Tamil Nadu Governor walks out of Assembly after standoff with DMK govt over his speech

CHENNAI: The first day of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2023 witnessed unruly scenes after the allies of the ruling DMK, including Congress and VCK, shouted slogans against Governor RN Ravi who later walked out of the House. Tamil Nadu Governor walked out of the Assembly minutes before Chief Minister M K Stalin completed reading out the resolutions which demanded to only include the speech printed and approved by the government.

The sloganeering began after CM Stalin moved a resolution urging the Speaker to take on record only the speech prepared by the state government, and remove the portions that the Governor added to or skipped from the customary address.

The ruling DMK alleged that the Governor had skipped parts of the address prepared by the state government which had references to secularism, describing Tamil Nadu as a haven of peace, and mention of leaders like Periyar, BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, CN Annadurai, and Karunanidhi, after which the Chief Minister moved the resolution.

The Governor also did not read the reference to the ‘Dravidian Model’ that the ruling DMK promotes.

A resolution seeking to relax Rule 17 of the state assembly and not include the speech delivered by the Governor in the Legislative Assembly was unanimously adopted by the House earlier. 

Earlier in the day, the Governor, in his customary address in the Legislative Assembly, skipped mentioning the Dravidian Model of governance as well as did not name the leaders including Thanthai Periyar, BR Ambedkar, and even former Chief Ministers, K. Kamaraj and CN Annadurai. However, he mentioned the name of Kalaignar Karunanidhi in another line.

In response, the allies of the DMK, including Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), MDMK, and CPI-M, shouted slogans against the Governor during his address, against the Governor`s mention of Tamil Nadu as Tamizhagam recently. The walkout of the Governor led to him not being present during the National Anthem in the House. The House was adjourned for the day after these incidents.

Bureau Report