In the hallowed precincts of the Legislative Assembly, the heart and soul of democracy, there should be no room for individual egoism. The responsibility of upholding the sanctity of the elected House lies not only with political parties, either having representation there or aspiring to be there, but also with the governor, who, as per the constitutional mandate, delivers the governor’s address prepared by the state government and also has the final say on the bills passed by the House. That is, unless the governor and the legislature act in sync the fruits of democracy will not reach the people.
But now Tamil Nadu has been facing a unique standoff in the last two years with the governor R.N. Ravi storming out of the Assembly in anger. In 2024, Mr Ravi deviated from the text prepared by the government and left the House in a huff when the ruling party moved a resolution urging Speaker M. Appavu to only have in the official records the speech drafted by the government. This year, the same governor refused to read even a single word from the speech that was already printed and distributed to members of the Assembly, complaining about the Speaker’s refusal to accede to his demand for singing the national anthem before and after the governor’s address as it is done in other states.
With the governor now accusing the Speaker and chief minister of disrespecting the national anthem, despite the clarification that the tradition in Tamil Nadu was to sing the Tamil anthem, locally known as Tamil Thaai Vazhthu, at the beginning of an event and the national anthem at the conclusion, questions are being raised over Mr Ravi’s actual respect for the national anthem since he left the House last year without waiting for it to be played. But the counter-question asked is why the state can’t accede to the governor’s request when he is not seeking the scrapping of the Tamil anthem. Well, traditions are important in democratic institutions. And in any case, democracy suffers when the governor and the state government are at loggerheads.
