Chennai:

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. Asking the Centre to recall the governor, Mr Stalin accused him of insulting national unity and Mr Ravi hit back, claiming that the chief minister had made a racist remark against 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 Thaai 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 strong rejoinder to the chief minister, Mr Ravi said “making a racist remark” against the governor is “unfortunately cheap”.

“Hon’ble Chief Minister Thiru. @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,” the governor said in a post on X.

Mr Ravi asserted that the Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several steps for the promotion of Tamil culture and heritage and so has he.

“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 (sic),” he wrote.

Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan, who heads the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party, also condemned the incident without naming the governor.

“Dravidian has a place not only in the Tamil anthem but also in the National Anthem. Leaving out the words ‘Dravidian Nalthirunadu’ and singing it, thinking that it is politics, is an act of insulting Tamil Nadu, the people of Tamil Nadu, the laws of the Tamil Nadu government and the world’s oldest language, Tamil, which is the pride of India,” Mr Hassan wrote in Tamil.

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”.