Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Tuesday walked out of the state Assembly without delivering the customary address on the opening day of the first session of the year.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Ravi has walked out of the Assembly during the opening ceremony.
On Tuesday, he alleged that the Assembly had disrespected the national anthem and that his mic was switched off during the proceedings.
The governor left the Assembly a few minutes after Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu, which is the state anthem, was played in the House, The Hindu reported.
“I am disappointed,” The Times of India quoted the governor as saying. “The national anthem was not given due respect.”
After the governor left, the House adopted a resolution moved by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Chief Minister MK Stalin to take on record only the approved text of Ravi’s address prepared by the state government, The Hindu reported.
Speaker M Appavu also urged the governor to follow established rules and customs of the Assembly.
In a statement issued later in the day, the Lok Bhavan listed several reasons for the governor’s refusal to read the speech in the Assembly, including that his mic was repeatedly switched off and that he was not allowed to speak.
The Lok Bhavan further alleged that the speech contained several “unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements”, adding that crucial problems troubling the residents of the state were ignored.
“Claim that the state attracted huge investments to the tune of over Rs 12 lakh crore is far from the truth,” read the statement. “Many of the MOUs [memorandums of understanding] with prospective investors remain only on paper. Actual investment is hardly a fraction of it.”
The Lok Bhavan also claimed that women’s safety was ignored in the speech, even though there was an “alarming increase of over 55% incidents of POCSO [Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act] Rapes and over 33% increase in incidents of sexual molestation”.
The statement added that there was rampant prevalence of narcotics and a sharp increase in their abuse among the youth, which was a serious concern that was also “casually bypassed” in the speech.
“Over 2,000, mostly youth, committed suicide in one year due to drug abuse,” it added.
The Lok Bhavan said that atrocities against Dalits and sexual violence against Dalit women were sharply increasing, adding that this was also not mentioned in the speech prepared by the state government.
There was also a steady decline in the standards of education and widespread mismanagement in educational institutions, it said, adding that more than 50% faculty positions had been vacant for years and guest faculties were restive all over.
“Our youth are staring at uncertain future,” the statement read. “It does not seem to bother the government and the issue is totally bypassed.”
The Lok Bhavan also noted that several thousand village panchayats were defunct because elections had not been held for years, and that many temples were without a board of trustees and were being directly administered by the state government.
The micro, small, and medium enterprises sector was also under huge stress due to visible and invisible costs of running the industry, it added.
The Lok Bhavan added that none of these problems were mentioned in the speech.
“National Anthem is yet again insulted and the Fundamental Constitutional Duty disregarded,” it added.
Apart from his maiden customary address to the House as Tamil Nadu governor in 2022, Ravi has walked out of the Assembly in 2023, 2024 and 2025 as well at different points during the sitting, The Hindu reported.
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