Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 10: The Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi, who gave a new twist to the current governor – government tussle by refusing to read out in entirety the DMK government drafted address to the state Assembly on Monday, has further incensed the ruling alliance members by issuing an invite for the Pongal ceremony in the Raj-Bhavan naming the state as “Thamizhagam.”
Mr Ravi had been for some time advocating re-naming the state as “Thamizhagam” which he believed was “more appropriate” for the state amidst total opposition from the ruling DMK and its alliance partners but by issuing the invite using the new name, he apparently had tried to ignore the elected government’s opposition to any such move.
He has also raked up a new controversy by opposing the use in Tamil the term “Ondriya Arasu” for the central government. Speaking at an event on Tuesday morning, Ravi strongly criticised the ruling DMK for addressing the central government as “Ondriya Arasu” in Tamil saying that “it belittles the union government, as in Tamil, Ondriyam also refers to a block or a small place. This issue is only in Tamil Nadu.” Linguists, however, pointed out that Ondriyam in Tamil means union and blocks. Ondriya Arasu clearly an appropriate reference to the union government.
The Tamil Nadu versus Thamizhagam controversy created from Ravi’s recent remarks about “a more appropriate name” for the southern state was further fuelled by an invite from the Governor’s House, which uses “Thamizhagam” for the state’s name. The invitation in Tamil for Pongal festival at the Governor’s House also misses the state government’s emblem and features only the emblem of the government of India. But the English version of the invite says “Tamil Nadu” Governor.
At an event last week, Governor Ravi had said: “Whatever applies to the entire country, Tamil Nadu says no. It has become a habit. Truth must prevail. Thamizhagam is a more appropriate word. The rest of the country suffered a lot of devastation at the hands of foreigners for a long time.” Tamil Nadu means “the nation of Tamils” while Thamizhagam means the “abode of the Tamil people” and is the ancient name for the region. His argument is that because of the meaning of “Nadu”, the word could be seen to depict an autonomous region that is part of India.
The DMK disagrees. “The name Tamil Nadu indicates our language, tradition, politics and life itself. This land will remain Tamil Nadu forever,” said DMK MP Kanimozhi. The DMK’s mouthpiece “Murasoli” was scathing on the Governor – “He says the name Tamil Nadu indicates a sovereign nation. Does the name Rajasthan sound like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, or Turkmenistan to you? Isn’t Maharashtra a secessionist name for its name indicates the land of Marathas? Kerala’s tourism slogan, ‘God’s own country’, may also be a demand for a nation-state status. Isn’t it problematic for you to find a ‘Desam (land)’ in Telugu Desam Party?”
The name “Thamizhagam” was first used by Periyar EV Ramasamy in 1938. But he also favoured Tamil Nadu as an option for renaming Madras. On July 18, 1967, the DMK government led by CN Annadurai moved a resolution to rename the Madras state as Tamil Nadu. “Tamil Nadu is a state which is part of India. It is not an independent country because of the name,” the DMK icon had said.
The ruling DMK and its allies accuse the Governor of pushing the agenda of the opposition BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by pitching the name “Thamizhagam.” “He makes statements that are factually incorrect and potentially dangerous,” said DMK leader TR Baalu. On the other hand, Ravi claims the ruling party and its allies symbolise Tamil chauvinism in politics. Mr Ravi is seen to be at odds with Dravidian ideology.
CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan shared screenshots on Twitter comparing two invites from the Governor’s house. He said the invitation for Pongal referred to him as “Thamizhagam Aazhunar” while an earlier invite had said: “Tamil Nadu Governor.” “The invitation from the Governor’s House to the Pongal ceremony last year said Governor of Tamil Nadu. Now the invitation for the Pongal festival says, Thamizhagam Governor. He should leave the state at the same speed as he left the House yesterday. He should be expelled,” the Left leader wrote.
Mr Ravi’s invite, though a few days old, surfaced on social media on Tuesday as fresh provocation a day after he walked out of the Tamil Nadu assembly in a row over his speech.
Mr Ravi’s walkout marked a dramatic escalation of his standoff with the Stalin government. It was a show of protest after the Chief Minister MK Stalin urged the Speaker to take on record only the printed speech prepared by the Tamil Nadu government. Earlier, the Governor had edited bits of his speech, skipping references to secularism, social justice and women empowerment, besides names of leaders like Periyar and BR Ambedkar.
In their protests in the assembly, DMK allies shouted “Tamil Nadu” repeatedly and demanded Mr Ravi’s recall. The hashtag #GetOutRavi also trended on Twitter briefly. However at a meeting on Tuesday, Stalin is learnt to have told his party MLAs not to make any “distasteful comments” on the Governor or put up any posters against him.
