Tensions between the Tamil Nadu government and governor rose significantly on Friday after Chief Minister MK Stalin said a line with the word ‘Dravida’ was skipped.
When the Tamil anthem was sung at an event attended by Governor RN Ravi. Mr Stalin accused the governor of insulting national unity and asked the Centre to recall him.
The skipping of the line added fuel to a raging fire over the Centre celebrating the culmination of the Hindi month along with the golden jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan – the event attended by Mr Ravi. Chief Minister Stalin had objected to this and said celebrating Hindi in a non-Hindi-speaking state is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages.
The Tamil Anthem, the Tamil Thai Vazhthu, is sung at the beginning of every government programme and the word ‘Dravida’ largely refers to the racial identity of the people in the southern states. The group from Doordarshan, while singing the anthem, left out the line which has the word in it.
Doordarshan Tamil has apologised for the line being skipped and blamed the mistake on the singers being distracted. Hitting out at the governor, Mr Stalin, who is also the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), said Mr Ravi is “unfit” for his post and asked whether he would call for ‘Dravida’ being skipped in the national anthem.
Pointing out that skipping the word in the Tamil Anthem violates the state’s law, Mr Stalin accused the governor of insulting national unity and the people of many races in the guise of celebrating Hindi.
“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,” Mr Stalin wrote in Tamil in a post on X.
In a statement, Doordarshan Tamil apologised for the mistake and blamed it on distracted singers. It said there was no intent to disrespect Tamil or the Tamil Anthem and also apologised to the governor for the inconvenience caused to him.
Hindi Row
Earlier in the day, Mr Stalin had written to Prime Minister Modi about the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan being combined with Hindi Month Celebrations and said celebrating “such-Hindi language oriented events in non-Hindi speaking states” can be avoided.
“As you are aware, the Constitution of India does not accord national language status to any language. Hindi and English are used only for official purposes such as legislation, judiciary and communication between the Union government and state governments. In the circumstances, in a multilingual country like India, according special place to Hindi and celebrating Hindi Month in non-Hindi speaking States is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages,” Mr Stalin wrote.
“Therefore, I suggest that holding such Hindi language-oriented events in non-Hindi speaking States could be avoided or if the Union government still desires to hold such events, I suggest that celebration of the local language month in respective states must also be done with equal warmth,” he added. Governor Ravi said Hindi should not be viewed as an imposition but as a language to be celebrated alongside other languages.
“First, when I came here, Hindi was not a welcome language in Tamil Nadu but when I started meeting students, I was happily surprised that their Hindi was better than mine. There is a greater acceptance of Hindi among people of Tamil Nadu… Hindi is not a language of imposition of language in Tamil Nadu,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The governor also expressed concern over what he called an attempt to isolate Tamil Nadu from the rest of India, describing such efforts as a “toxic and separatist policy”. The perceived imposition of Hindi has led to several agitations in Tamil Nadu in the past and remains a social and political issue that comes up from time to time in the state and other southern states.
The DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu and the governor have clashed several times over pending bills, the Dravidian model of governance and Mr Ravi’s remarks. In March, the Tamil Nadu government had approached the Supreme Court over the appointment of a minister and accused Mr Ravi of “attempting to run a parallel government”.