The Budget Session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for the year 2024-25 began today with the Governor's address at 10 am.
Last year, during the budget session, Governor R N Ravi stirred controversy by omitting words like Periyar, Anna, and the Dravidian model from the prepared speech, and by walking out during the national anthem. Subsequently, a resolution was passed against him.
This year, the Assembly convened with expectations that the Governor would read out the government address in its entirety.
The session commenced with the participation of the Governor, the Speaker, the Chief Minister, Ministers, and MLAs.
Governor R N Ravi commenced his speech by saluting everyone in Tamil and reading Thirukkural.
However, he expressed dissatisfaction, stating, "It is a constant demand to respect the national anthem. It is also my instruction that the national anthem should be sung at the beginning and end of the meeting. But, it continues to be ignored.
Moreover, I cannot accept this as the data in the text is contradictory in terms of facts and ground situation. To read it that way would be a mockery of the Constitution of India. So, I will end my speech with this," he said, disregarding the prepared speech.
Following this, Speaker Appavu started reading out the Tamil version of the speech that the Governor was supposed to deliver. Eventually, the Governor left the House even before the national anthem was played. This action by Governor R N Ravi, who had ignored a few words in his speech last year, has sparked a huge debate in political circles.