Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi on Monday walked out of the state Assembly after Chief Minister moved a resolution asking the Speaker to only take on record the speech prepared by the State government and remove the portions of the Governor in the customary address. The tussle between the ruling DMK and the Raj Bhavan hit a new low as the governor skipped portions of the government-prepared customary address in the Assembly and Stalin piloted a resolution to exclude from the House records whatever he spoke outside the State drafted speech.
The governor had allegedly skipped portions that made references to secularism, describing Tamil Nadu as a haven of peace, and mention of leaders like Periyar, BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, CN Annadurai, and Karunanidhi, after which the Chief Minister moved the resolution.
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Following Ravi's address, Stalin expressed regret about the Governor avoiding certain portions from the prepared address. The Chief Minister moved a resolution and it was adopted and Ravi left the House immediately and such a thing has perhaps happened for the first time in the history of the Assembly.
'Dravidian model' were among the words skipped by the Governor and he also spoke on his own on certain aspects.
Ravi began his address, marking the commencement of the year's first session, amid slogan shouting against him by MLAs belonging to allies of the ruling DMK.
As soon as Ravi began his address in Tamil, greeting members on the New Year and the harvest festival 'Pongal,' legislators raised slogans including 'Tamil Nadu Vazhgave' (Long live Tamil Nadu) and 'Engal Nadu Tamil Nadu' (Our land is Tamil Nadu).
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After a while the slogan shouting ceased. The Congress, CPI and CPI(M) are among the allies of the ruling party.
BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan alleged that the government did not get the Raj Bhavan's concurrence for the prepared speech to be read by the Governor and defended Ravi and hit out at the DMK regime.
