Governor R.N. Ravi, at his arrival to the T.N. Legislative Assembly on January 9, 2023, received the guard of honour
| Photo Credit: Ragu R

The first session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 2023 witnessed a face-off between Governor R. N. Ravi and Chief Minister M. K. Stalin after the former, in his customary address to the House, skipped references to certain leaders and the term “Dravidian Model” of government, deviating from the prepared text.

Soon after Speaker M. Appavu read out the Tamil translation of the Governor’s address, Mr. Stalin moved a resolution seeking to retain the entire printed speech of the Governor in the Assembly records.

“It is very sad that the Governor has skipped the speech printed and approved by the House. What he has done is against the policy of the government and the rules of the Assembly. So we move this resolution relaxing Rule 17 of the State Assembly to retain the entire speech,” the Chief Minister said.

The Governor, who is not conversant in Tamil, was seen asking his Secretary as to what the Chief Minister was saying in the House. Upon learning that the House was about to move the resolution, Mr. Ravi quickly left the Assembly hall without waiting for the proceedings to conclude. He left before the resolution was adopted and the National anthem was played.