'Governor must stop misusing' constitutional office: Congress MP on Ravi for skipping Assembly address

New Delhi: With Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi walking out of the Assembly without delivering his customary address to the House, Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Tuesday said the state will not accept the erosion of its democratic institutions and the governor must stop "misusing" a constitutional office.

Tamil Nadu Governor Ravi walked out of the state Assembly without delivering his customary address to the House in its maiden session of the year, alleging, among others, "inaccuracies" in the DMK government's prepared text.

Chief Minister M K Stalin slammed the governor for "walking out in violation of tradition and ethos," and later piloted a resolution saying the English version of the address was assumed to have been read.

Reacting to the development, Congress MP Tagore said, "Why does Governor Ravi repeatedly refuse to follow the Constitution of India? Once again, he has acted in a manner that undermines and insults the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly -- a democratically elected body of the people." The Constitution is clear that the governor is a constitutional head, not a parallel authority, he said in a social media post in Tamil.

"He (the governor) must act on the aid and advice of the elected state government (Article 163). Reading out personal opinions, selectively altering the Assembly address, or withholding assent indefinitely is not constitutional discretion - it is constitutional defiance," Tagore said.

Noting that the Tamil Nadu Assembly represents millions of people, the Congress leader said, "disrespecting the House is not disrespecting a party - it is disrespecting democracy and federalism".

"Supreme Court judgments (SR Bommai, Nabam Rebia) are clear: Governors must act with neutrality, restraint, and constitutional morality - not as political agents of the Centre," he said.

Tamil Nadu will not accept the erosion of its democratic institutions, Tagore asserted.

"The governor must either uphold the Constitution or stop misusing a constitutional office to create confrontation," he said.