Congress Slams TN Governor Walkout, Says State Won’t Accept Erosion of Democracy
New Delhi: With Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi leaving the Assembly without making his usual address to the House, Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Tuesday said he will not accept the erosion of the state’s democratic institutions and the governor should stop “abusing” a constitutional office. Tamil Nadu Governor Ravi walked out of the state Assembly without making his regular address to the House in the first session of the year, alleging “inaccuracies” in the text prepared by the DMK government, among others.
Prime Minister MK Stalin criticized the governor for “leaving in violation of traditions and morality” and later piloted a decision stating that it was assumed that the English version of the address had been read.
Reacting to the development, Congress MP Tagore said, “Why does Governor Ravi repeatedly refuse to abide by the Constitution of India? Once again, he has acted in a manner that undermines and insults the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, a democratically elected body of the people.”
In a social media post in Tamil, he said the Constitution is clear that the governor is a constitutional head and not a parallel authority.
“He (the governor) must act with the assistance and advice of the elected state government (Article 163). Reading personal views, selectively changing the address of the Assembly or postponing the assent indefinitely is not constitutional discretion – it is a defiance of the constitution,” Tagore said.
Noting that the Tamil Nadu Assembly represents millions of people, the Congress leader said, “Disrespecting the Assembly is not disrespecting a party, it is disrespecting democracy and federalism.”
“The Supreme Court judgments (SR Bommai, Nabam Rebia) are clear: Governors must act with impartiality, restraint and constitutional morality and not as political agents of the Centre,” he said.
Tagore maintained that he would not accept the erosion of Tamil Nadu’s democratic institutions.
“The governor must either protect the Constitution or stop abusing a constitutional office to create conflict,” he said.
