CHENNAI: The Raj Bhavan here on Monday clarified why the governor walked out of the House ahead of the rendering of the National Anthem and why he refused to read the customary address in full.
The Raj Bhavan charged that by launching a tirade against the governor and calling him a follower of Nathuram Godse and more, Assembly Speaker M Appavu had "lowered the dignity of the chair."
The clarification from Raj Bhavan, referring to the sequence of events during the governor’s address in the House, said: “When the Speaker concluded the address, the governor rose for the National Anthem, as scheduled. However, the Speaker, instead of following the schedule, launched a tirade against the governor and called him a follower of Nathuram Godse and more."
“The Speaker, with his unbecoming conduct, lowered the dignity of his chair and the grace of the House. While the Speaker went on his tirade, the governor, with due regard to the dignity of his office and the House, left the House,” the Raj Bhavan said.
The Raj Bhavan's statement further noted that the government's draft of the governor's address was received on February 9. It claimed that the address had numerous passages with "misleading claims far from the truth."
“Hence, the governor returned the file, advising the government to show due respect to the National Anthem and play it at the beginning and end of his address. In this regard, the governor had written letters to the CM and the Speaker in the past also,” the statement read.
While returning the draft address, the governor also advised that the address should reflect the government’s achievements, policies, and programmes, inform the House of the “causes of its summons,” and not be a forum for peddling misleading statements and venting blatantly partisan political views. However, the government chose to ignore the advice of the governor, the Raj Bhavan added.
The Raj Bhavan also explained that the governor, in his address to the House at 10 a.m., greeted the Speaker, the CM, the members of the House and the people of Tamil Nadu, and read out the first paragraph, which contained a Kural (738) of Saint Thiruvalluvar.
“Thereafter, the governor, with due regard to the constitutional proprieties, expressed his inability to read the address as it contained numerous passages with misleading claims and facts and reading them would have amounted to the governor’s address becoming a constitutional travesty. He expressed his respect to the House, wished the session to be productive for the good of our people of Tamil Nadu and concluded. Thereafter, the Speaker read the Tamil version of the address and the governor sat through it till the conclusion of the address,” the Raj Bhavan added.
For the second consecutive year, the customary address of the governor to the State Assembly ended up in controversy on Monday, with Governor RN Ravi refusing to read his customary address prepared by the state government except for the introductory portions, citing some reasons.
Later, Assembly Speaker M Appavu read out the Tamil version of the customary address in the presence of the governor and completing that, the Speaker gave a sharp reply to the governor's remarks. Besides, he said the personal remarks made by the governor would not go on record.
Just after the Speaker completed his sharp remarks, the governor left the House without staying back for the National Anthem.