Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 18: Tension between the Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the DMK government in the state escalated significantly on Friday after Chief Minister MK Stalin said a line with the word ‘Dravida’ was deliberately skipped when the Tamil anthem was being sung at an event in the presence of the governor.
Demanding the Centre to recall the governor, Mr Stalin accused him of insulting national unity and the state’s prestige. Mr Ravi hit back, claiming that the chief minister had made a racist remark against him and accused him of making incorrect imputations.
The skipping of the line added fuel to a raging fire over the Centre celebrating the culmination of the Hindi month along with the golden jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan – the event attended by Mr Ravi. Chief Minister Stalin had objected to this and said celebrating Hindi in a non-Hindi-speaking state was seen as an attempt to belittle other languages.
The Tamil anthem, the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu, is sung at the beginning of every government programme and the word ‘Dravida’ largely refers to the racial identity of the people in the southern states. The group from Doordarshan, while singing the anthem, left out the line which has the word in it.
Countering Mr Stalin’s tweet in which he wondered if Mr Ravi was a Governor or an “Aryan,” the Governor said, “Making racist remark and alleging incorrect imputations against governor by the Chief Minister is unfortunately cheap and lowers the dignity of the high Constitutional office of the Chief Minister. Since he [Chief Minister] rushed to public with his racist remarks and false imputations I am constrained to respond.”
A social media post by the Raj-Bhavan quoted the Governor as saying that in the “regrettable tweet” Chief Minister made a “racist remark against me and levelled false allegations of showing disrespect to Tamizh Thaai Vaazhthu. He (the Chief Minister) knows it well that I recite full Tamizh Thaai Vaazhthu at every function and do so with reverence, pride and precision.”
The Governor further said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government has created several institutions for spread of Tamil language and heritage within India including Tamil Nadu and several countries of the world. The Prime Minister took Tamil even to the United Nations, the Governor said.
“As a proud Indian I myself have taken numerous substantive initiatives to spread Tamil, the oldest and richest living language, in other states of the country, the latest being to set up , with cooperation of the Assam govt, a Tamil diploma course in Gauhati University for spread of Tamil in the North East,” the Governor said.
Doordarshan Tamil, however, has apologised for the line being skipped and blamed the mistake on the singers being distracted. It said there was no intent to disrespect Tamil or the Tamil anthem and also apologised to the governor for the inconvenience caused to him.
Hitting out at the governor, Mr Stalin, who is also the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), said Mr Ravi was “unfit” for his post and asked whether he would call for ‘Dravida’ being skipped in the national anthem. Pointing out that skipping the word in the Tamil anthem violates the state’s law, Mr Stalin accused the governor of insulting national unity and the people of many races in the guise of celebrating Hindi.
“Will the governor who suffers from a Dravidian allergy ask them to leave out ‘Dravida’ in the national anthem? The Union Government should immediately recall the Governor who is deliberately insulting Tamil Nadu and the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Mr Stalin wrote in Tamil in a post on X.
Earlier in the day, Mr Stalin had written to Prime Minister Modi about the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan being combined with Hindi Month Celebrations and said celebrating “such-Hindi language oriented events in non-Hindi speaking states” can be avoided.
“As you are aware, the Constitution of India does not accord national language status to any language. Hindi and English are used only for official purposes such as legislation, judiciary and communication between the Union government and state governments. In the circumstances, in a multilingual country like India, according special place to Hindi and celebrating Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking States is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages,” Mr Stalin wrote.
“Therefore, I suggest that holding such Hindi language-oriented events in non-Hindi speaking States could be avoided or if the Union government still desires to hold such events, I suggest that celebration of the local language month in respective states must also be done with equal warmth,” he added.
Governor Ravi said Hindi should not be viewed as an imposition but as a language to be celebrated alongside other languages. “First, when I came here, Hindi was not a welcome language in Tamil Nadu but when I started meeting students, I was happily surprised that their Hindi was better than mine. There is a greater acceptance of Hindi among people of Tamil Nadu… Hindi is not a language of imposition of language in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
The governor also expressed concern over what he called an attempt to isolate Tamil Nadu from the rest of India, describing such efforts as a “toxic and separatist policy.” The perceived imposition of Hindi has led to several agitations in Tamil Nadu in the past and remains a social and political issue that comes up from time to time in the state and other southern states.
The DMK-led government and the governor have clashed several times over pending bills, the Dravidian model of governance and Mr Ravi’s remarks. In March, the Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court over the appointment of a minister and accused Mr Ravi of “attempting to run a parallel government.”
The DMK leader TKS Elangovan also alleged that the removal of the word “Dravidian” was done intentionally under the instructions of Governor Ravi. “The governor is insulting the state. He is purposely doing this to demean the people of Tamil Nadu… This goes against the constitutional provisions and the law,” he claimed.
The Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan in its communique dismissed Mr Stalin’s claim and clarified that neither the Governor nor his office played any role in the matter.
“At the beginning of the programme, the troupe who recites the Thamizhthaai Vaazhthu has inadvertently missed a line which consists of the word “Dravida”. The matter was immediately brought to the notice of organizers and appropriate authorities were asked to look into the matter. The Governor or His Office has no role in this except that he participated in the Programme,” the statement from Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan read.
The Hindi Month valedictory function at the Doordarshan office in Chennai coinciding with its Golden Jubilee celebrations, faced significant backlash from the Tamil Nadu government and political leaders, reigniting the longstanding Hindi and non-Hindi speaking debate in the state.
Despite the criticism, Governor Ravi, who attended the event, said criticism of Hindi was an “excuse.” “Talk against Hindi is an excuse. You celebrate Kannada Diwas, Malayalam Diwas, Telugu Diwas… I assure you there will be protests here by some people,” Ravi stated. He further added: “In the last three years, I have visited almost every nook and corner of the state, participated in events, and interacted with students in schools and colleges. I have seen the growing enthusiasm among people of Tamil Nadu to learn Hindi.”
