A massive war of words has erupted between Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and governor RN Ravi over the state anthem during its rendition at an event presided by the latter.
A sentence “Thekkanamum adhil sirantha Dravida nal thiru naadum” was missing when the singers sang the anthem at the DD Tamil office in Chennai during the Doordarshan Kendra Chennai’s Hindi month valedictory function.
Stalin accused the governor of insulting the unity of the country, Tamil Nadu and its people. The chief minister demanded that Ravi be recalled by the Centre. “A person who doesn’t abide by the law and acts as per his wishes was not fit to hold that office and wondered if Ravi was a governor or an ‘Aryan’,” he said.
Apart from MK Stalin, AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami also strongly condemned the omission and said it was a blunder and other parties including Congress condemned the Governor.
Hitting back at Stalin, the Governor’s office denied the DMK chief’s allegation, saying that RN Ravi was only attending the function, and the troupe reciting the state song, inadvertently skipped the line.
In an X post, the governor said,”Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru. @mkstalin has issued a regrettable tweet this evening in which he made a racist remark against me and leveled a false allegation of showing disrespect to Tamizh Thaai Vaazhthu. He knows it well that I recite full Tamizh Thaai Vaazhthu at every function and do so with reverence, pride and precision”
The skipping of the line added fuel to fire over the Centre celebrating the culmination of the Hindi month along with the golden jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan – the event attended by Governor Ravi.
Earlier Stalin had objected to this and said celebrating Hindi in a non-Hindi-speaking state is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages. The line “Thekkanamum Adhirsirandha Dravida Nal Thirunaadum” is reference to the greatness of Dravidian land, was omitted when the Tamil Thaai Vazhthu, the state song, was sung at the event.
Ravi termed Stalin’s reaction as regrettable and accused the CM of making a racist remark against him and for having levelled, “false allegation of showing disrespect to Tamizh Thaai Valthu.” Ravi said the allegation against him was “unfortunately cheap and lowers the dignity of the high constitutional office of the chief minister.”
