TN Governor slams Stalin over foreign trip; govt hits back

Opening yet another front with the DMK dispensation, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has taken a veiled dig at Chief Minister M K Stalin’s recent nine-day foreign trip, saying investors will not come “just because we ask them or go and have a talk”, inviting a sharp retort from the state government which asked him to “stop behaving like a politician.”

Alliance partners of the DMK too condemned the Governor’s statement and sought his withdrawal for “interfering” in the functioning of the government.

In his address at the Vice-chancellors’ Conference at Ooty on Monday, Ravi, who is at loggerheads with the state government on several issues, says the geo-political situation is pushing many manufacturing industries to India and the infrastructure here needs further improvement.

“In our state we have to create more and more environment to attract more and more of them. Investors will not come just because we ask or we go and have a talk,” Ravi said, in what is seen as a dig at Stalin’s visit to Singapore and Japan during which the state government signed MoUs worth over Rs 3,000 crore.

“Corporate entities value every dollar. They will not say yes if the place is not conducive. They bargain hard and they don’t get swayed like the public that you talk to and they are impressed. They are hard-core realists. They will invest a dollar only if they are confident of taking back at least 1.5 dollars. We need to improve our infrastructure,” Ravi added.

He went on to say many states are improving the infrastructure and cited the example of Haryana, whose FDI is equivalent to Tamil Nadu.

The governor also spoke about “decline” in the state’s human resources, contending that it has become difficult to provide education that is aligned with the needs and demands of the time.

The remarks set off the latest round of confrontation between the governor and the state government.

Speaking at an event, Stalin referred indirectly to the Governor’s statement saying the “person who holds the highest position in the state” is not able to understand Tamil Nadu’s success in sectors like health and education.

“He doesn’t like our Dravidian model of governance and continues to make misleading statements everyday. People won’t believe him because they know the truth. I want him to continue to talk like this as it will help know the truth better,” Stalin added.

Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu sought to turn the tables on the Governor, seeking to know whether Ravi was questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trips to foreign countries to woo investments when he was governing Gujarat. “Is our Chief Minister the only person to travel abroad to woo investments? Don't BJP CM’s go? Didn’t Modi himself travel to China, Japan, and Malaysia as Gujarat CM?” Thennarasu asked.

The minister also accused the governor of criticising the government to “divert attention” from controversies created by him without any basis. “He (the Governor) accused the government of filing false cases of child marriage on priests of Chidambaram Nataraja Temple. But today the media has broadcast videos of the marriage. So, he makes such remarks to divert attention when his own statements go off the mark,” Thennarasu added.

The Finance Minister also took serious objection to the Governor’s statement on the education sector in the state, asking Ravi to look at the NIRF ratings released on Monday. Of the top 100 universities in India, 22 are from Tamil Nadu, and 30 of the top 100 colleges in the country belong to the state, he added.

On investments, the minister said the DMK dispensation signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with 108 companies for investment worth 1.80 lakh crore between January 2022 and April 2023.