Touching a new low in their already strained relationship, yet another war of words has erupted between Tamil Chief Minister MK Stalin and Governor RN Ravi over the skipping of ‘Dravidam’ in the state anthem of Tamil Nadu, sung at the DD Chennai Kendra on Friday.
In a late night duel on the micro-blogging site, ‘X’, the two had accused each other of lowering the dignity of the constitutional office they are holding with the Chief Minister questioning whether Ravi acts as a governor or like an Aryan and demanding his immediate recall. And, responding to it in equal measure, Ravi termed Stalin’s ‘racial jibe’ as cheap and unbecoming.
Denouncing the omission of ‘Dravidam’ at the golden jubilee of DD Tamil channel and Hindi month celebration, presided by Ravi, Stalin dared the governor whether he would allow rendering of the national anthem without the word ‘Dravida’. This omission in the invocation song for mother Tamil (Tamil Thai Vazhthu) was a violation of the law. Earlier in the day, he had written to Prime Minister Modi to stop Hindi month celebrations in non-Hindi speaking states as it would be deemed to be an insult of the languages of those states.
Irked by Stalin dubbing him as an Aryan, the governor shot back saying, “Casting racial aspersions against me was regrettable and it is erroneous that I had insulted Tami Thai Vazhthu. He knows very well that I used to sing it in full with utmost devotion, pride and precision…It is unfortunate for a Chief Minister to stoop so low to level baseless charges and hurl racist remark against a governor. It lowers the dignity of the constitutional office that he holds.”
“I am compelled to respond since the Chief Minister had gone public with unfounded charges and racist jibes,” Ravi reasoned. Recalling the Prime Minister’s efforts to spread Tamil within the country and abroad, Ravi, for his part, said “Tamil is the oldest and yet lively language. Through my efforts, Guwahati University with the assistance of Assam government has introduced a certificate course in Tamil for the benefit of those in the north east.”
Picking holes in the Governor’s response, Stalin asked why he had not attempted to rectify the skipping of the line containing the word ‘Dravidam’. “You should have condemned it and ensured that it was properly rendered again. Had you done that, there would have been no need for a response.”
“Tamil is our race! It is our breath! We have sacrificed our lives at the altar of fire to protect Tamil language. Besides being instrumental for the first constitutional amendment, this soil bears witness to the history of agitations against imposition of Hindi. Deriding our love for mother tongue as racist is indeed a credit,” was Stalin’s answer. Then, debunking the Modi government’s claim, he wrote: “From 2013-14 to 2022-23, Rs 20435 cr had been allotted for Sanskrit development while it was a paltry Rs 167 cr for Tamil.”
Recalling Ravi advocating ‘Tamilagam’ instead of Tamil Nadu, Stalin said the governor had derided the Dravidian ideology as an expired British import and that there is no such ‘Dravidian model’. “That deep rooted aversion is visible in the present instance of Tamil Thai Vazhthu,” he said, questioning what prevented the Union Government to declare ‘Thirukkural,’ the Sangam-era classic composed by Thiruvalluvar and considered as a universal ethical treatise, as the National Book and prove their love for Tamil. This being the duplicity of the BJP and Sangh parivar, how do you expect the Tamils to believe that the skipping of ‘Dravidam’ at the event was unintentional, he asked further and said to continue as governor, Ravi should extricate himself from divisive forces and give up sowing the seeds of communal poison in Tamil soil, which would be defeated by the Tamil people.