Tamil Nadu Assembly: Hours after Governor R N Ravi walked out of the Tamil Nadu Assembly ahead of the national anthem being played, Raj Bhavan issued a statement accusing the state government of ignoring his advice on the address. The Raj Bhavan in a statement to Monday alleged that Governor advice to the Tamil Nadu government to show due respect to the national anthem and play it at the beginning and end of the Governor's customary address to the Assembly was ignored by the DMK regime.
It alleged that the Speaker M Appavu with his unbecoming conduct had lowered the dignity of his Chair and the grace of the House. "Speaker M Appavu launched a tirade in the Assembly against the Governor and called him a 'follower of Nathuram Godse' and hence, the Governor, with due regard to the dignity of his office, left the House. The Speaker's conduct was unbecoming of his office, and lowered the dignity of his chair and grace of the House," it said.
Guv returned draft address to govt
Explaining the sequence of events that unfolded in the House, an official Raj Bhavan release said that the governor returned the draft address it received on February 9, which had 'numerous passages with misleading claims far from the truth'. The governor returned the file with some advice to show due respect to the national anthem and play it at the beginning and end of the governor’s address.
In this regard, the Governor had written letters to the Chief Minister and the Speaker in the past as well. The state government, however, 'chose to ignore' the advice of the Governor.
The Governor greeted the Speaker, Chief Minister MK Stalin, MLAs and the people of Tamil Nadu, and read out the first paragraph which contained a 'Kural' (couplet from Tamil classic Tirukkural) of the renowned saint Thiruvalluvar, Raj Bhavan added. "Thereafter, the governor’s address should reflect the government’s achievements, policies and programmes and to inform the House of the causes of its summons and should not be a forum for peddling misleading statements and venting blatantly partisan political views," it said.
“The govt chose to ignore the advice of the governor,” the statement said.
'Constitutional travesty'
On the reason for the Governor not reading out the customary address, the Raj Bhavan said Ravi, with due regard to the 'Constitutional proprieties' expressed his 'inability' to read the address as it contained numerous passages with misleading claims and facts and 'reading them would have amounted to Governor’s address becoming a Constitutional travesty.' ence, he expressed his respect to the house, wished the session to be productive for the good of the people of Tamil Nadu and concluded.
"The governor with due regard to the constitutional proprieties expressed his inability to read the address as it contained numerous passages with misleading claims and facts and reading them would have amounted to the governor’s address becoming a constitutional travesty. He expressed his respect to the house, wished the session to be productive for the good of our people of Tamil Nadu and concluded,” The statement said.
Though the Speaker read the government-prepared Governor's address with which Ravi had a disagreement, he 'sat through it, till the conclusion of the address.' Appavu read the Tamil version of the address. When the Speaker concluded the address, the Governor stood up for the national anthem, as scheduled.
"However, the Speaker, instead of following the schedule, launched a tirade against the Governor and called him a follower of Nathuram Godse and more. The Speaker with his unbecoming conduct lowered the dignity of his chair and grace of the House. While the Speaker went on his tirade against the Governor, the Governor with due regard to the dignity of his office and the House, left the House."
Also Read: Tamil Nadu: Luxury wrist watches worth Rs 1.70 crore seized at Chennai airport, passenger held
