Ravi walks out of TN Assembly, CM bats for Constitutional amendment to drop Guv Address

Chennai, Jan 20 (PTI) In the fourth such instance, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Tuesday walked out of the state Assembly without delivering his customary address to the House following an argument with Speaker M Appavu who requested him to stick to the state-prepared text. Chief Minister M K Stalin dubbed Ravi's action as an insult to the House and the people of the state.

Beginning in 2023, this was the fourth such consecutive walkout in a row by Ravi, who cited "unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements," for not reading out the policy statement.

The governor's office alleged national anthem was yet again "insulted" and the fundamental Constitutional duty of respecting it was disregarded. Several crucial issues troubling the people were ignored.

Chief Minister and DMK President MK Stalin said his party would make efforts to amend the Constitution to omit provisions mandating Governor's Address to the state legislature.

As Speaker Appavu began reading out the Tamil version of the state-prepared governor's address after Ravi left abruptly, main opposition AIADMK staged a walkout alleging law and order failure and other opposition parties including the PMK followed suit.

In the governor's address read out by the Speaker, the Tamil Nadu government urged the Centre to withdraw the recently passed VB-G RAM G Act and restore UPA-era rural employment scheme, MGNREGA.

While the Assembly, immediately after Ravi walked out of the House, adopted a resolution moved by Stalin stating that only the government prepared customary address would go on official record, the Lok Bhavan quickly released a statement claiming to give an explanation to what transpired inside the House.

Alleging that the mic of the Governor was turned off in Assembly, the Lok Bhavan listed 12 other points all of which was dismissed by the Tamil Nadu government as baseless and false.

While Ravi had been demanding that the national anthem be played at the commencement of the customary address, the government's stand is that the Tamil anthem is traditionally played at the beginning and the national anthem at the end Natural Resources Minister S Regupathy, reiterating this practice, said the governor was, however, insistent on the national anthem.

"He did not read out the Governor's Address but tried to create problems in the House by saying something on his own. Everyone was, however, quiet. Speaker Appavu requested Governor to stick to the customary address. He, however, walked out." Regupathy rejected the governor's claim that his mic was turned off and termed it a "lie". Also, he gave a point by point rebuttal to all the allegations listed by the Lok Bhavan.

Regupathy said Ravi, who should have been the representative of the Central government appeared in the House as the representative of the BJP.

After the Governor left the House, Chief Minister Stalin slammed the Governor for "walking out yet again in violation of rules, traditions and ethos," and it was unbecoming of the high office Ravi holds. It was an insult to the House and its dignity, he said.

The CM said it is not good that the Governor refuses every year to read out the government prepared speech. Governors posing trouble happens in several states and it does not happen only in Tamil Nadu.

At the beginning of the year, Governor reading out the government's policy statement is a practice being followed. When a governor repeatedly violates such a practice, a question naturally arises "as to why such a rule/practice should exist." Hence, the chief minister said his party, the DMK would make efforts in the Parliament with the support of like-minded parties to drop provisions mandating governor's address at the start of the year from the Constitution by way of an amendment.

It was regrettable that the Governor has repeated his behaviour of walking out of the House, which reflected the sentiments of the 8.5 crore Tamil people.

"A Governor must be concerned about the state's welfare, interested in the people's development, and must speak the truth. He must cooperate with the government which has come to power with massive public support and a majority, on its decisions." According to the Lok Bhavan the Tamil Nadu government's "claim that the state attracted huge investments to the tune of over (Rs) 12 lakh crores is far from the truth." Also, the Governor targeted the state on issues including women safety issue, alleged prevalence of narcotics and drugs, suicides by the youth.

The Lok Bhavan alleged that atrocities against Dalits and sexual violence against Dalit women were sharply increasing, it was totally bypassed.

Alleged decline in standards of education, defunct village pancahyats were among the other issues flagged by it in the statement.

Also, it said several thousand temples in the state are without Board of Trustees and are directly administered by the state government.

It alleged that the MSME sectors are under huge stress.

Furthermore, it was alleged by the Lok Bhavan that entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu are forced to locate their enterprises in other states and the issue is completely ignored.

There was widespread discontentment among lower rung employees in almost all sectors. "They are restive and frustrated. There was no mention of ways to address their genuine grievances," the statement added. PTI VGN VGN SA