Speculation about a budding camaraderie between the DMK and Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has been circulating for some time, particularly after a series of events suggested a softening of the typically strained relationship.
However, the recent spat between Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and the Governor over the omission of the term Dravidam in the state song during the celebrations of Doordarshan Tamil golden jubilee and Hindi month has finally seemed to put such speculations to rest.
Rumours about a possible rapprochement
The rumours about a possible rapprochement gained traction following a recent cabinet reshuffle, wherein Ponmudy, the long-serving Higher Education Minister, was replaced by Govi Sezhiyan. Ponmudy was often seen disagreeing with the Governor over various issues in the department.
Many, especially in the opposition, viewed this move as a strategic attempt to appease the Governor. Adding fuel to these speculations, the Governor publicly praised the state government’s efforts in managing the monsoon, an unusual gesture given the historically confrontational relationship between the Raj Bhavan and the DMK-led state government.
Opposition parties seized on these events, arguing that the DMK was quietly aligning with the Governor to avoid further confrontations. These suspicions of a behind-the-scenes reconciliation between the ruling party and the Governor created a narrative that the DMK was softening its stance.
AIADMK leader and former Minister D Jayakumar alleged that the DMK was “advised to go soft on the Governor in the meeting between Chief Minister and Prime Minister recently.” AIADMK leaders said that the DMK had a “secret pact” with the BJP to shield itself from the Centre’s vindictive action typically accorded to opposition leaders.
But the recent incident involving the omission of the term “Dravidam” from the Tamil Thai Vaazthu (state song) tell a different tale, reigniting the long-standing friction between the DMK and Governor Ravi.
“With state elections only 15-16 months away, Stalin was actually adopting a balanced approach. He wants to be cordial and get funds from the Centre for the state. But when the Governor speaks against the DMK’s basic principles, he is forced to react,” said senior journalist and political commentator Priyan.
Priyan added that the AIADMK tried to portray a camaraderie between the BJP and the DMK following a series of events including Union Minister Rajnath Singh releasing a commemorative coin on DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi, DMK attending the Governor’s tea party when other alliance parties boycotted it, and the meeting with Prime Minister in which funds were sanctioned for metro.
“It was purely speculative and entirely AIADMK’s propaganda. But DMK and Stalin have made it clear that politically they will maintain their identity. He even demanded the withdrawal of Governor and called him Aryan. Stalin has effectively put an end to any rumour or speculation about the camaraderie,” said Priyan.
Omission of Dravidam from state song, row over ‘Hindi month’ celebrations
On October 18, Doordarshan Tamil (earlier called Podhigai) celebrated its golden jubilee at the Chennai Doordarshan Television Station. The event was held along with the valedictory function of the “Hindi month.”
During the event, attended by Governor Ravi as the chief guest, a contentious moment arose when the traditional Tamil Thai greeting was sung. The line “Thekkanamum athil sirantha Dravida nal thirunaadum” (The southern region and the Dravidian country which excels in it) was omitted, leading to widespread criticism.
Leaders from parties across the spectrum including the opposition condemned the omission of the term “Dravidam’. It is no secret that Governor Ravi has consistently professed an aversion to the term.
“It was Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) who declared it as Tamil Thai Vaazthu (State Song), while our present Chief Minister made it mandatory to stand and sing it at every government event. How could we let it go when humiliation is meted out to such an important song?” asks C.V.M.P. Ezhilarasan, secretary of the DMK students’ wing.
Even before this controversy, the DMK students’ wing had organised a protest against the celebration of the Hindi Month, demanding that the event be canceled and condemning the Union government for imposing Hindi on the state.
“By participating in the event, the Governor was, in fact, humiliating the state and every Tamil citizen,” Ezhilarasan had said.
Responding to the BJP’s remarks that in the past, the DMK government had in fact accommodated celebrations of Hindi during the Congress regime at Centre, Ezhilarasan argued that conflating it with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Doordarshan was problematic.
“Every institution has the right to celebrate, but what is happening by celebrating the Hindi Month along with Golden jubilee celebration is deliberate imposition, and we oppose that”.
‘Larger agenda to spread Hindi in Tamil Nadu’
Madurai CPI(M) MP S. Venkatesan, a consistent voice against what he perceives as the subtle imposition of Hindi, argues that this event reflects a larger agenda to spread Hindi in states like Tamil Nadu.
“Union Home Minister Amit Shah is the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, which has taken upon itself the task of taking Hindi to every corner of this country. Although Tamil Nadu had been exempted from this Hindi cell, it is still functioning illegally,” said Venkatesan.
Venkatesan points to various initiatives, including Hindi months and weeks, activities such as “learn a Hindi word” and even the establishment of a Hindi library at government institutions including Madurai Railway Station to bolster his point.
“The Hindi cell should be dismantled,’ Venkatesan says. “This is not just an isolated incident, it is part of a carefully orchestrated political agenda.”
In response to the backlash, Doordarshan Tamil issued an apology to the Governor, claiming the omission was an “inadvertent mistake” with no intention to insult Tamil culture or the Tamil Thai. “Ideally, along with the Governor, they should apologise to the people of Tamil Nadu,” Venkatesan remarked.
“I believe that the Governor must have realised that he might have to face a legal case for the issue. Forget the government, any Tamil enthusiast could have resorted to legal means for this humiliation of state song. I do think Governor’s legal advisors could have told him about the consequences” says DMK students’ wing’s Ezhilarasan, pointing to the Governor’s comment that he respected the state song.
Governor Ravi’s advisor, Thirugnana Sambandam, clarified that the Governor’s office had no involvement in the incident.
CM Stalin demands recall of Governor
However, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin took a strong stance.
“Will the Governor, who suffers from Dravidian allergy, ask people to sing the national anthem without mentioning Dravidam in it?” asked Stalin.
Stalin demanded that the Union government recall the Governor immediately.
Joining the issue, the Governor condemned the remarks of the Chief Minister calling them ‘unfounded’. Emphasising that he regularly sings the song with devotion and pride, the Governor added that the central government, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made significant efforts to promote the Tamil language and its heritage, even introducing a diploma course in Tamil at Guawhati University to expand its reach in northeastern India.
Ravi called Stalin’s comments as “racially charged and damaging to the dignity of the Chief Minister’s office”, asserting that such remarks were made hastily and without basis.
Justifying his criticism, Stalin questioned why the Governor hadn’t condemned the incomplete rendition of the Tamil Thai Vazhthu if he truly sang it with devotion and pride.
“The Governor is accusing us of being racist. Mr. Governor, Tamil Nadu has sacrificed lives for our language; it is our very breath,” Stalin said.
Referring to the Governor’s remarks on the Union Government’s efforts to promote Tamil, Stalin pointed to the discrepancies in funding between Sanskrit and Tamil. He pointed out that while the Central Sanskrit University in Delhi received a grant of ₹2,029 crores, and the National Sanskrit University in Tirupati was allocated ₹406 crores, only ₹167 crores was allotted for Tamil, accounting for just 7% of the funds spent on Sanskrit.
DMK government’s past frictions with Governor
This is not the first time Governor Ravi finds himself in the middle of the controversy over the word Dravidam. Besides skipping the term Dravidian model in one of his customary addresses in the state assembly kicking another controversy, the governor had in fact called the Dravidian ideology “a British driven narrative to divide the country.”
Addressing a meeting in Tiruchy a year ago, Ravi had said that there were attempts to rewrite history in Tamil Nadu “by creating a false narrative of racial divide between Aryans and Dravidians.”
Even in his address at the Hindi month celebrations at the Doordarshan event, the Governor said that there was a “consistent attempt to isolate Tamil Nadu from the rest of the country and a lot of toxicity had been infused in the minds of people over the past 50 years.”
“Out of 28 states in India, 27 have the three-language policy and Tamil Nadu is the only state which does not follow it; they do not want any other Indian language to enter the state. They want to break the communication of people of Tamil Nadu from the rest of the country,” he had said.
The pinned post of the Governor’s X page is an interview he had given to a Newspaper in which he says that there is no such thing as Dravidan model and it is an “expired ideology.”
Besides, the DMK has often criticised the Governor for his “excessive remarks” about the state as also for “withholding assent for bills passed by the State Legislative Assembly”.
For now, the DMK seems to be in no mood to backtrack, with deputy Chief Minister Udayanidhi Stalin attacking former Governor and BJP leader Thamizhisai Soundarrajan and accusing her of betraying the interests of people of Tamil Nadu in the DD Tamil row.
Soundarrajan had earlier critcised the DMK and had said that the party speaks as if only it has the rights to the Tamil language and being its protector.
