National Anthem row: CM Stalin's 'arrogance' is not good, says Tamil Nadu Governor

Chennai: The tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the DMK dispensation in Tamil Nadu descended into acrimony on Sunday with Governor R N Ravi saying Chief Minister M K Stalin’s “arrogance was not good” for insisting that the convention in the Assembly was to play the Tamil Thai Vaazthu and National Anthem at the start and end of the Governor’s address. 

 “Thanks for betraying the true intentions of the coalition of interests and ideologies to which he is a leader that does not accept and respect Bharat as a nation and her Constitution. Such arrogance is not good,” the statement said.

It also criticised Stalin for terming the Governor’s action as “absurd” and “childish” and maintained that all Ravi insisted was due respect to the National Anthem by exercising his fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution. 

“Please do not forget that Bharat is the supreme Mother and the Constitution the supreme faith for her children. They will not like or tolerate such brazen insults,” the statement added. 

This is the latest salvo in the never-ending confrontational saga between Raj Bhavan and Fort St George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government. Ravi’s walkout from the Assembly on January 6 intensified the struggle between the two institutions which have been at loggerheads over a slew of issues, especially on matters relating to Higher Education. 

The Raj Bhavan’s statement came a day after Stalin accused the Governor “deliberately violating” the Constitution by not delivering his customary address to the Assembly, while terming the reasons cited by him for his actions as “absurd.” 

“Like the famous movie dialogue of Kalaignar (M Karunanidhi) ‘the court hall has witnessed a lot of strange cases’, this Assembly has also witnessed strange scenes as far as the Governor is concerned. The Governor walks into the House but leaves without delivering the address. That is why I called his actions childish,” Stalin had said in his long reply.