• By Mayukh Debnath
  • Sat, 19 Oct 2024 12:10 AM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Tamil Anthem Row: Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Friday responded to the allegations levelled against him by Chief Minister MK Stalin, who had earlier in the day accused him of 'deliberaltely' insulting the state and its populace. In a tweet amid a mounting controversy over omission of the word 'Dravida' from a rendition of Tamil Nadu's state anthem at an event attended by Ravi, Stalin, who is also the president of DMK, had wondered if the Governor was being an "Aryan".

Responding to this, the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan issued a statement charging that the Chief Minister made a "racist remark" towards the Governor. "Hon'ble Chief Minister Thiru. [MK Stalin] has issued a regrettable tweet this evening in which he made a racist remark against me and levelled 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 statement, attributed to Governor Ravi said.

The Governor further asserted that subsequent central governments under Prime Minister Narendra Modi have contributed significantly in spreading the Tamil language across India and the rest of the world. "He (CM Stalin) also knows that under leadership Hon'ble Prime Minister Thiru. [Narendra Modi] the Central govt has proudly created several institutions for spread of Tamil language and heritage within India including Tamil Nadu and several countries of the world. #PMModi took Tamil even to the United Nations," he said.

"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 cooperation of the Assam govt, a Tamil diploma course in Gauhati University for spread of Tamil in the North East," the Governor added. He described Stalin's allegations and choice of words as "cheap".

"Making racist remark and alleging incorrect imputations against governor by the chief minister is unfortunately cheap and lowers the dignity of the high constitutional office of the chief minister," the Governor's statement said. The controversy, the latest flare-up in tensions between Ravi and the DMK government of Tamil Nadu, erupted with CM Stalin's sharp criticism of the Governor's attendance at an event organised to simultaneously mark the golden jubilee of Doordarshan Chennai and the culmination of Hindi Month.

The Tamil Nadu CM said the celebration of Hindi Month in non-Hindi-speaking states "is seen as an attempt to belittle" other languages. In a letter to PM Modi ahead of the event, Stalin had described the function as a "blatant attempt to impose Hindi".

The row escalated further after a line mentioning the word 'Dravida' was skipped by a group from Doordarshan that sang the Tamil anthem (Tamil Thai Vazhthu), which is sung at the beginning of every government programme, according to NDTV. "Dravida" refers to the cultural, linguistic, geographical concept, and the people primarily associated with southern India.