Following the face-off between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and state Governor RN Ravi recently in the state assembly, a DMK Minister has stoked a fresh controversy by making abusive and threatening remarks against Governor Ravi.
While speaking at an event, Shivaji Krishnamoorthy said, “Don’t I have the right to assault the Governor if he refuses to utter Ambedkar’s name in his address to the Assembly? Go to Kashmir and we’ll send terrorists so that they will gun you down there if you (governor) don’t read the speech given by the Tamil Nadu government.”
If he (TN Gov RN Ravi) refuses to utter the name of Ambedkar in his Assembly speech, don’t I have the right to assault him? If you (Gov) don’t read out the speech given by Govt, go to Kashmir&we’ll send terrorists so that they’ll gun you down: DMK’s Shivaji Krishnamoorthy (12.01) pic.twitter.com/OvcuauylVw
— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2023
Furthermore, DMK’s motormouth Krishnamoorthy also went on to abuse Leader of Opposition (LoP) E Palaniswami saying that “a man is truly masculine only when he has sons.”
“Our ex-CM Karunanidhi, current CM MK Stalin, and Udhayanidhi Stalin are all men because they brought sons into the world, “ the DMK leader said.
DMK Shivaji Krishnamoorthy using Filthy Words against TN Guv and ADMK Leaders. @mkstalin @KanimozhiDMKhttps://t.co/NriF71MMdO pic.twitter.com/SskatqpHwW
— Arun Manickam (@arunreports) January 13, 2023
On Friday, BJP state vice-president Narayana Thirupathy responded to Krishnamoorthy’s derogatory remarks and said, “It’s in the DNA of the DMK to use abusive and filthy language. The state governor was abused by Shivaji Krishnamoorthy and R S Bharathi, who also threatened to kill him. We wonder if the DMK has any connections to terrorists.”
It’s DMK’s culture. For last 60 yrs, they’ve been using foul & filthy language&are known for it. It’s in DMK’s DNA. Shivajii Krishnamoorthy&RS Bharathi had abused Gov RN Ravi & said they’ll kill him. We wonder if DMK has any links with terrorists: Narayanan Thirupathy, TN BJP VP pic.twitter.com/mf3QQ89tIQ
— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2023
BJP’s state President K Annamalai issued a statement condemning the vile remarks made by Shivaji Krishnamoorthy against the Tamil Nadu governor and also stated that the Police’s inaction in the matter would be assumed as the endorsement of the views expressed by Krishnamoorthy.
We look forward to some stern action to ensure the Public stage is not used to spread filth, like how DMK men continue to use it for a long. We wish to convey that the police inaction on such public slander would mean endorsement of the view.
— BJP Tamilnadu (@BJP4TamilNadu) January 14, 2023
– State President Thiru.@annamalai_k pic.twitter.com/rETjEKb2NO
The rift between Tamil Nadu CM Stalin and Governor RN Ravi came out in the open on January 9 when the governor addressed this year’s first session of the Tamil Nadu state’s legislative assembly. A paragraph of the printed copy of his speech mentioned Ramaswami Periyar, Dr. BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, and CN Annadurai. It also mentioned the so-called Dravidian model of government. The governor skipped that paragraph while delivering the speech.
It is notable that the first session of the Assembly held every year begins with the Governor’s address. This provision is in force under 176(1) of the Constitution. The state cabinet expected the governor to read out the speech prepared by the cabinet. The Governor skipped some portions while speaking in the House. It was objected to by Chief Minister Stalin. Stalin moved a resolution that the official address prepared by the state cabinet would be on the table of the House and it was passed. As a result, the speech made by the governor was not recorded in the assembly. Since then, DMK cadres have been protesting against the governor. On Thursday, DMK and its allies skipped a Pongal event that was organized by Governor Ravi.
Governor RN Ravi, while interacting with a batch of civil services aspirants who have cleared their Civil Services (Main) Exam and were looking forward to their interviews, expressed his disagreement with the Tamil term ‘ondirya arasu‘ used by the state government to denote the union government.
He said he was fine with people using the term “Union government” to refer to the Government of India, but he felt the term being translated into Tamil as ‘ondirya arasu‘ was not acceptable. He said that this term referred to a sub-district, sub-divisional level structure in the hierarchy and was used for the Union government perhaps with an intention to belittle and be disrespectful to the Union government.
