TN Guv protests priority to state song over national anthem, leaves assembly; CM calls it 'childish'

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday walked out of the state assembly session without delivering his customary address, saying the national anthem was not played after the state anthem 'Tamil Thai Vazhthu'.

The Governor said despite his "fervent appeal" to chief minister MK Stalin and Speaker M Appavu, his plea was "cussedly refused". Stalin, however, called the Governor's behaviour "childish" and said he had made it a custom to violate the Constitution, alluding to past instances where Ravi had walked out of the assembly in a similar fashion.

"Respecting the national anthem is among the first fundamental duty. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end of the Governor's address," the Raj Bhavan said on X.

Leader of the House Duraimurugan echoed Stalin's sentiments and said that the practice in TN is to play the national anthem at the end of the Governor's address, not before it.

Meanwhile, members of the ruling DMK-led INDIA bloc demanded that the Governor, as the chancellor of state universities, own responsibility for lapses that led to an incident of alleged sexual assault of a female student inside Chennai's Anna University campus.