The ongoing row between the Tamil Nadu Government and Governor RN Ravi has escalated. The Raj Bhavan has addressed Ravi as “Tamizhaga Aalunar” or “Tamizhagam Governor” in invites sent to out to dignitaries for celebrating the Pongal Peruvizha festival on January 12 at the Chennai Raj Bhavan.
The Raj Bhavan has also replaced the State Government’s emblem with that of the Union Government’s in the official Pongal invitations.
The Governor has already invited criticism from the ruling DMK for suggesting that the State be renamed from ‘Tamil Nadu’ to ‘Tamizhagam’. On Monday, the Governor triggered a major uproar by skipping certain portions of the text of the Governor’s address to the Tamil Nadu Assembly and staging an unprecedented walkout.
This led to a major showdown with Chief Minister MK Stalin asking for the original text of the speech to be entered into the records and Ravi staging a walkout.
In the past, Pongal invitations from the Raj Bhavan read “Governor of Tamil Nadu.” The card sent by the Governor’s office for Tamil New Year celebrations last year also had the same phrase.
Such communication also had the Tamil Nadu Government’s emblem of the tower of the Andal Temple in Srivilliputter — which has been replaced by the Union Government’s this time.
The DMK-led State Government has been highly critical of the Governor over several issues including his recent comments allegedly termed Dravidian politics as ‘regressive politics’ and suggested changing the name of the State to ‘Tamilagam’.
On January 4, addressing a programme at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai allegedly remarked that the word ‘Tamilagam’ was a more appropriate term for Tamil Nadu and said, “”Here in Tamil Nadu, a different kind of narrative has been created. Everything applicable for the whole of the country, Tamil Nadu will say no. It has become a habit. So many theses have been written - all false and poor fiction. This must be broken. Truth must prevail,” he said, PTI reported. “Thamizhagam would be a more appropriate word to call it,” he said.
Both DMK and Opposition took serious objections to the suggestion for changing the name of the State.