A file photo of Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Hall.
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: For the third year in a row, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Tuesday walked out of the Legislative Assembly without reading the customary address, prompting Chief Minister M K Stalin to assert that the DMK will work with “like-minded” parties to amend the Constitution to do away with the practice of the Governor’s address.
The Governor cited not playing the national anthem along with the 'Tamil Thai Vaazthu' (State anthem) at the beginning of his address and 12 other reasons for not reading out the address prepared by the DMK dispensation.
Minutes after Ravi walked out of the Assembly, the Lok Bhavan issued a three-page statement alleging that the Governor’s microphone was switched off repeatedly and he was not allowed to speak and that the address contained numerous unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements.
“Several crucial issues troubling the people are ignored… There is widespread discontentment among lower rung employees in almost all sectors. They are restive and frustrated. No mention of ways to address their genuine grievances,” the statement added.
After the Governor stormed out of the House, Stalin moved a resolution with the permission of the Chair to deem as “read” the address prepared by the State government. Speaker M Appavu read the Tamil translation of the entire address.
“The Governor has insulted the House and has gone against the traditions,” Stalin said and accused Ravi of defaming the State government in his speeches delivered at various events.
“This is not happening here alone but across the country. We will work with like-minded parties to bring necessary amendments to the Constitution to do away with the practice of starting the Assembly session with the Governor’s address,” Stalin added.
After Ravi assumed office as Governor, he delivered the address as prepared by the State government only in 2022. He skipped a few portions and added some portions to the speech in 2023, but walked out of the House without reading the speech in 2024, 2025, and now in 2026.
While the Governor wants the national anthem to be played along with the State anthem at the beginning of his address, the Speaker has maintained that the custom is that the State anthem will be played in the beginning and the national anthem at the end of the address.
In the statement, the Lok Bhavan said investment data show that Tamil Nadu is becoming less attractive for investors, women safety issue is totally ignored though there is alarming increase of over 55 per cent incidents of POCSO rapes and over 33 per cent increase in incidents of sexual molestation of women, and rampant prevalence of narcotics and drugs.
”There is widespread discontentment among lower rung employees in almost all sectors. They are restive and frustrated. No mention of ways to address their genuine grievances. The national anthem is yet again insulted and the fundamental constitutional duty disregarded,” the statement added.