Tamil anthem row: TN CM Stalin asks Centre to recall Guv Ravi

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin asked the Centre to recall Governor R N Ravi after accusing him of insulting the country's unity, Tamil Nadu, and its people. The war of words escalated after singers missed a line from Tamil Nadu's state anthem during its rendition at an event on Friday.

In the Doordarshan Kendra Chennai's Hindi month valedictory function, the stanza "Thekkanamum adhil sirantha Dravida nal thiru naadum" went missing when the singers sang the anthem at an event presided over by Ravi.

Reacting to it, the chief minister said that 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.'

AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami strongly condemned the omission and called it a blunder, and other parties, including Congress, condemned the Governor.

Ravi termed Stalin's reaction regrettable and accused the CM of making a racist remark against him and of having levelled a "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", PTI reported.

Meanwhile, Doordarshan Kendra Chennai apologised for an 'inadvertent mistake' and said singers had no intention to disrespect Tamil or Tamizh Thaai Valthu, the state song.

Taking strong exception, Stalin said removing the words was a violation. In a post on social media, accused the governor of insulting the unity of the country and the people of different races living in the land, under the guise of observing Hindi month.

"Will the governor, suffering from the Dravidian allergy, ask the people to sing the national anthem leaving out Dravida?" the chief minister asked.

"CM knows well that he recites full 'Tamizh Thaai Valthu' at every function with reverence, pride and precision. The CM was aware that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government 'proudly created' several institutions for the spread of the Tamil language and heritage within India, including Tamil Nadu and several countries of the world. PM Modi took Tamil even to the United Nations," the governor responded.

"As a proud Indian I myself have taken numerous substantive initiatives to spread Tamil, the oldest and richest living language, in other states of the country, the latest being to set up , with the cooperation of the Assam govt, a Tamil diploma course in Gauhati University for the spread of Tamil in the North East," he added,.

The 'Tamizh Thaai Valthu' was made the state anthem after M K Stalin became Chief Minister in 2021. The song was authored by Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai. The DD event also marked the beginning of the golden jubilee celebrations of Doordarshan Chennai, which commenced operations here.