Announcing the commencement of the first session of the new year on January 20, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu on Friday expressed hope that Governor RN Ravi will keep up the tradition and honour of the State legislature.
“The conventions of the Assembly will not be changed. Singing ‘Thamizh Thai Vazhthu’ (the state anthem in praise of Mother Tamil) at the commencement of the session and the rendering of the national anthem at the close of the day’s proceedings is the long-held convention, and it will continue without any change,” he said in a response to a question at a media briefing at his Chambers at the Secretariat. “The session is being convened after the prior approval from the Governor,” he added.
“The Governor has to deliver the address prepared by the government,” he said. Earlier this year, at the first session of 2025 in January, Governor Ravi had staged a walkout within three minutes of entering the Assembly hall without reading the customary address in protest against the national anthem not being sung at the beginning. It was customary to sing the Tamil anthem at the beginning and not the national anthem. Later in the day, the Lok Bhavan, in a statement, charged the Speaker, the leader of the House, and the Chief Minister with ‘cussedly’ turning down his appeal to sing the national anthem. “The Constitution of Bharat and the national anthem were insulted once again in the assembly,” the Lok Bhavan alleged in a post on its ‘X’ handle.
The Assembly passed a resolution not to take the remarks of the Governor on record, and Appavu read the Tamil version of the Governor’s address. It marked a new low in the turf war between the Raj Bhavan and the elected DMK Government of Stalin.
“The Business Advisory Council will convene after the close of the session on the first day and decide on the duration of the current session,” the Speaker said. With Assembly elections expected in April, the government could not present a full-fledged budget this year, and Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu might present supplementary estimates.