TN Guv stages walkout over ‘disrespect’ for National Anthem

As per tradition, the state anthem ‘Tamil Thai Valthu’ is sung when the House meets and the National Anthem is sung at the end. But the Governor took exception to this norm, saying the National Anthem should be sung on both occasions.

"The Constitution of Bharat and the National Anthem were once again insulted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly today. Respecting the National Anthem is among the first Fundamental Duties, as enshrined in our Constitution. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end of Governor’s address,” the Raj Bhavan said in a statement after the incident.

“On the arrival of the Governor to the House, only Tamil Thai Valthu was sung on Monday. The Governor respectfully reminded the House of its constitutional duty and fervently appealed to the Chief Minister, who is the Leader of the House and the Speaker for singing the National Anthem. However, they refused cussedly, which is a matter of grave concern. Not to be a party to such brazen disrespect to the Constitution and the National Anthem, the Governor left the House in deep anguish,” the Raj Bhavan added.

Calling the Governor’s actions “childish”, Chief Minister MK Stalin said on X that the Governor had made it a custom to violate the Assembly's tradition.

"According to the Constitution, it is a tradition of the legislative democracy for the state Governor to read the government's address at the beginning of the year! He has made it his custom to violate it @rajbhavan_TN. It is childish that the Governor, who has cut out what was there and added what was not, has gone without reading it this time," he said, referring to passages skipped by the Governor in his earlier speeches in Assembly.

“The Governor's actions are continuously insulting the people of Tamil Nadu, the government elected by them, and the century-old Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly are unbecoming of the position he holds. Why should someone who is unwilling to perform their political and legal duties remain in office is the question on everyone’s mind!” the CM added.

After the Governor walked out, Assembly Speaker M Appavu delivered the customary address that was to be read by the Governor.

Notably, the run-ins between Ravi and Tamil Nadu Government have been quiet frequent since the past two years. There have also been other incidents when chief ministers of Opposition-ruled states have had face-offs with the centrally-appointed governors.

In February last year, the Governor -- on the very first day of the Assembly session -- had refused to read out the customary inaugural address and walked out of the House. He had announced his decision after reading the first paragraph of the address prepared by the government that wished people “happiness, prosperity and well-being” in the New Year and quoted a couplet from Tirukkural.

Another such incident occurred in January 2023, wherein the Governor abruptly walked out of the Assembly as the Chief Minister disapproved of his selective deviation from the approved text of the Governor’s address to the House.

Former Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also had running battles with the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in the state, which was headed by K Chandrashekhar Rao.

The relationship between the Governor's office and the state government went sour after Soundararajan in September 2023 rejected the latter's recommendation to nominate a politician to the Legislative Council.

In November 2023, the Supreme Court had advised the then Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to go through its judgment in the case relating to the Punjab Governor's inaction on bills.

The apex court was reacting to the Kerala government's plea seeking appropriate orders from the court on inaction on the part of the governor on as many as eight bills passed by the state legislature and presented to the Governor for his consent. Last week, Khan was appointed Governor of Bihar.