'Dravida' omitted from Tamil Nadu anthem, Stalin demands recall of Governor RN Ravi

MK Stalin

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on October 18 sought the removal of Governor RN Ravi over the omission of the word “Dravida” while reciting the state anthem during the Hindi Month Valedictory celebrations held at Doordarshan’s Chennai office.

The Tamil Nadu Governor reportedly skipped the line “Thekkanamum Adhirsirandha Dravida Nal Thirunaadum” while reciting from the state song ‘Tamil Thai Vazhthu’, sparking a row between him and the CM.

An evidently irked Stalin accused him of hurting Tamil sentiments and urged the Centre to recall him.

“Will the governor who suffers from a Dravidian allergy ask them to leave out 'Dravida' in the national anthem? The Union Government should immediately recall the Governor who is deliberately insulting Tamil Nadu and the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin wrote on X.

He dubbed this action, which the Governor’s office has claimed was “inadvertent” an insult to the Tamil language.

The Governor responded to the CM’s post on X, saying, “Hon'ble Chief Minister @mkstalin 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.”

“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. Since he rushed to public with his racist remarks and false imputations I am constrained to respond,” he further wrote.

Governor Ravi’s media advisor Thirugnana Sambandam also put out a post on X stating, “At the beginning of programme, the troupe who recites the Thamizhthaai Vaazhthu has inadvertently missed a line which consisted of the word "Dravida". The matter was immediately brought to the notice of organisers and appropriate authorities are asked to look into the matter.”

It added, “The Governor or His Office has no role in this except that he participated in the Programme. Hon'ble Governor has high respect towards Tamil and sentiments of the State and will continue to hold them at the highest level.”

Notably, the TN CM was already opposed to the idea of the Centre celebrating Hindi month along with golden jubilee celebrations at Doordarshan, Chennai, NDTV reported, adding that he had alleged it to be a ploy to insult other languages.

Meanwhile, Doordarshan has issued an apology for skipping the crucial line from the anthem and said that the singers were distracted.

“The Hon'ble Governor of Tamil Nadu RN Ravi graced the commemoration of the Hindi Month Valedictory function and the Commemoration of Golden Jubilee Celebration by Doordarshan Chennai. During the rendering of the Tamizh Thai Vazthu, inadvertently a line was missed, which happened due to a distraction,” Prasar Bharti clarified.

“We apologise for the inadvertent mistake. There was no intention from the singers to disrespect Tamizh or Tamizh Thai Vazthu. In this regard, we apologise for the inconvenience caused to the Hon'ble Governor of Tamil Nadu,” they said.