CHENNAI: Refuting Governor RN Ravi’s charges that he skipped delivering the customary address in the Assembly on Monday since the national anthem was insulted there, Leader of the House and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan clarified that the Assembly, its members and the people of Tamil Nadu have the highest regard for the national anthem.
Duraimurugan, who spoke in the Assembly before moving a resolution to incorporate in the House’s records only the approved speech prepared by the government for the governor’s address, recalled that the governor had deviated from the approved text of the customary address on January 9, 2023, and continued the same next year on February 12, 2024.
Referring to Article 176 of the Constitution which talks about the governor’s address to the Assembly, the minister said, “But our governor is acting against the Constitution, which is not good.”
He said he wanted to remind that in 1995, the then government headed by late AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa had brought a resolution to recall the then Governor M Channa Reddy. “Even at such a juncture, Reddy had read the address as prepared by the government in 1996,” Duraimurugan said.
He said that while certain states were avoiding governor’s address and presenting budgets by not proroguing the previous session, Chief Minister MK Stalin was firm about adhering to conventions. “However, the governor had repeated what he did in the past,” he said.
On the issue of national anthem, Duraimurugan said that last year itself the speaker had clarified to the governor that as per the conventions of Tamil Nadu Assembly, Tamil Thai Vazhthu would be sung first and national anthem would be sung at the end.
“However, the governor leaving (the House) without reading the address prepared by the government by citing the same problem raises questions on his true intentions,” Duraimurugan said.
Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a tweet, said violating the Constitution and conventions of the Assembly have become a routine for the governor. Blaming the governor for insulting the century-old Tamil Nadu Assembly and the people who elected it, the CM said the action doesn’t befit his position. “Why should a person who is unwilling to discharge his constitutional duties remain in office is the question everyone has now,” he said.