For the third year in a row, high drama unfolded inside the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as governor R.N. Ravi walked out without reading the customary address. Ravi’s decision to walk out prompted Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to assert that the DMK will work to amend the constitution to do away with the customary governor's address.
Expressing his disappointment for the national anthem not being played at the beginning of the session, Ravi claimed in the statement that the national anthem was “not given due respect”. He said that it was “unfortunate” that his speech was interrupted. A war of words unfolded inside the floor as speaker M. Appavu insisted that the governor follow the established set of rules and that only the Tamil anthem can be played as per the rules. He urged the governor to follow the established rules and customs of the assembly.
Minutes after his walkout from the assembly, Lok Bhavan, the office of the governor of Tamil Nadu, issued a detailed press statement citing a dozen issues for Ravi declining to read out the customary address. The statement said that the governor’s “mic was repeatedly switched off and he was not allowed to speak.” The statement said “the speech contains numerous unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements. Several crucial issues troubling the people are ignored.”
The statement from the Lok Bhavan also said that the claim that the state attracted huge investments to the tune of Rs. 12 lakh crores was “far from the truth.” He said that“many of the MoUs with prospective investors remain only on paper. Actual investment is hardly a fraction of it. Investment data show that Tamil Nadu is becoming less attractive for investors. Until four years ago, Tamil Nadu, among the states, was the fourth-largest recipient of foreign direct investment. Today, it is struggling to remain at the sixth.”
The statement also claimed that women's safety was totally ignored, though there is an alarming increase of over 55 per cent in incidents of POCSO rapes and over 33 per cent increase in incidents of sexual molestation of women. “Rampant prevalence of Narcotics and drugs and a sharp increase in Drug abuse cases among youth, including school students, is a very serious concern. Over 2000, mostly youth, committed suicide in one year due to drug abuse. It is seriously jeopardising our future,” the statement claimed.
Stating that several thousand village panchayats are defunct as elections have not been held for years, the statement said that crores of people are denied their rights of grassroots democracy. “This is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution. People are anxiously waiting for the restoration of village panchayats. However, this does not find even a mention in the speech.”
About the temple administration in the state, the statement noted that millions of devotees are deeply hurt and frustrated with the mismanagement of temples and that the sentiments of devotees are callously ignored. He also pointed out that the MSME sector is under huge stress “due to visible and invisible costs of running the industry. They are the crucial sector for employment and growth. However, as against over 55 million registered MSMEs in the country, Tamil Nadu has only about 4 million, despite enormous potential for growth. Entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu are forced to relocate their enterprises to other states. The issue is completely ignored.” He also said that there is widespread discontentment among lower rung employees in almost all sectors. “They are restive and frustrated. No mention of ways to address their genuine grievances.”
As the governor stormed out of the assembly after engaging in a war of words with Speaker Appavu, Chief Minister Stalin moved a resolution to deem as “read” the governor’s address as prepared by the state government. Speaker M Appavu read the Tamil translation of the entire address. Accusing Ravi of insulting the house, the chief minister said that Ravi was defaming the state government in his speeches even outside the house. “The Governor has insulted the House and has gone against the traditions.”
In the resolution, he said that this is not happening just in Tamil Nadu but across the country. “We will work with like-minded parties to get necessary amendments to the Constitution to do away with the practice of starting the assembly session at the beginning of the year with the governor’s address.”
However, this is not the first time that Governor Ravi walked out of the house. In 2022, for the first time after he took charge as the governor, he omitted certain portions of the customary address prepared by the government. And in 2023, he made a few additions on his own to the address. But, in 2024, 2025 and now in 2026, the governor skipped the address and chose to walk out of the house.
With the assembly election drawing closer, the run ins between the governor and the government has taken a new turn this year, with the DMK pressing for a “constitutional amendment” to do away with the customary governor's address in the assembly.
