Chennai, Mar 6 (PTI) When retired, top IPS officer R N Ravi became the 26th Governor of Tamil Nadu on September 18, 2021, few would have thought that his tenure would go down in history as one witnessing the most confrontations with the elected government.
Be it the clearing Bills passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the appointment of Vice-chancellors or policy-driven fights with the DMK regime– including the one over the National Education Policy (NEP), Ravi did not give up and firmly held on to his views.
The most striking outcome of the wrangles Ravi had with the DMK regime was the Supreme Court declaring, in the matter of Presidential Reference, that timelines cannot be stipulated for Governors or the President and that there was no concept of ‘deemed assent.’ In 2023, on his own, he infamously “dismissed” the then Minister V Senthilbalaji from the Council of Ministers following his arrest by the ED, and quickly put that decision on hold following the Centre’s reported advice to him. He had said that Balaji’s continuation in the Cabinet would “adversely impact the due process of law including fair investigation that may eventually lead to a breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the state.” The tug-of-war ensued between him and the DMK regime over pending Bills and several other issues. It includes the prosecution of former AIADMK ministers, including BV Ramanaa and C Vijaya Bhaskar. In the matter of appointing VCs to state varsities, he mandated a UGC nominee in the Search/Selection Committee and said it conformed with a Supreme Court decision.
However, the state government said it was following relevant laws and that a UGC nominee was unwarranted.
On October 25, 2023, a petrol bomb was thrown near the Raj Bhavan main gate which took the fight between Ravi and the DMK regime to a new level. The Governor’s office had then alleged verbal attacks and threats to the Governor were mostly from leaders and workers of ruling DMK and its allies in their public meetings and through their social media.
Raj Bhavan had alleged: “…a studied indifference by the police to serious threats against the Honorable Governor has vitiated the security of the Hon’ble Governor and Raj Bhavan…brazen bomb attacks on the Raj Bhavan are a consequence of it.” In 2022, when he was on his way to attend a function at the Dharmapuram Adhinam, Raj Bhavan alleged that sticks and stones were hurled at his convoy to target the Governor. “A complaint was lodged by Raj Bhavan, but an FIR was not registered. No action was taken against the assailants,” the Governor’s office later claimed.
Karukka Vinoth, a history-sheeter was convicted and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment by a special court for NIA cases in the Raj Bhavan petrol bomb attack case.
Ravi’s tenure was not only about controversies; he also tried to innovate and organised many events at the Lok Bhavan including the ‘Think to Dare Series,’ a conclave of higher education institutions and facilitated a cultural study tour for students of the University of Lucknow. He regularly interacted with students.
The outgoing Governor has also been accused often by the proponents of the Dravidian ideology of attempting to “appropriate” Tamil icons such as saint-poet Thiruvalluvar and revolutionary saint Vallalar and portray them as belonging to the Bharatiya Sanatan tradition. Ravi regularly honoured a portrait of Thiruvallur in saffron with sacred ashes and also observed the traditional Vaikasi Anusham star –to honour Thiruvalluvar– much to the chagrin of Dravidian ideologists.
He criticised G U Pope and Bishop Caldwell, alleging they tried to destroy the spirituality and identity of Tamil Nadu, which he hailed as the spiritual capital of India. He said that to write a parallel history of Tamil Nadu, a false narrative of racial division—of separate Dravidian and Aryan races—was created, seeking to strike at the foundational pillars of the Dravidian ideology.
Ravi never missed an opportunity to emphasise nationalism and national consciousness and he once lamented that PhDs had been awarded for theses focused only on a handful of Dravidian ideology icons. He said at an education-related event: “When I went through the PhD thesis, it was all propaganda material, not even proper research. It was a license to get a job at the university as a professor. Such extreme politicisation of higher education institutions is rare to see. Not even one was on the Marudhu brothers. I would love to see research on the lives and times of our great freedom fighters.” Ravi repeatedly walking out of the Assembly and skipping the government prepared texts during his customary addresses had never been witnessed before. He touched a political raw nerve when he advocated the term ‘Tamilakam’ instead of Tamil Nadu, sparking strong protests from the ruling party and several others.
He regularly levelled allegations against the DMK government on several issues including crimes against Dalits. He showed great interest in learning Tamil and organised events to mark the formation days of each state. He renamed Durbar hall in Lok Bhavan as Bharathiar Mandapam.
Ravi has been transferred and posted as Governor of West Bengal. His Kerala counterpart RV Arlekar has been given additional charge of Tamil Nadu. PTI VGN VGN SA
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