Chennai:

Tensions between the Tamil Nadu government and governor rose significantly on Friday after Chief Minister MK Stalin said a line with the word ‘Dravida’ was skipped when the Tamil anthem was sung at an event attended by Governor RN Ravi. Mr Stalin accused the governor of insulting national unity and asked the Centre to recall him. 

The skipping of the line added fuel to a raging fire over Mr Ravi attending the golden jubilee celebrations of Chennai Doordarshan, which also marked the culmination of the Hindi Month. Chief Minister Stalin had objected to this and said celebrating Hindi in a non-Hindi-speaking state is seen as an attempt to belittle other languages. 

The Tamil Anthem, the Tamil Thai Vazhthu, is sung at the beginning of every government programme and the word ‘Dravida’ refers to the people in the southern states. A group from Doordarshan, while singing the anthem, left out the line which has the word in it. 

Doordarshan Tamil has apologised for the line being skipped and blamed the mistake on the singers being distracted.

Hitting out at the governor, Mr Stalin, who is also the president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), said Mr Ravi is “unfit” for his post and asked whether he would call for ‘Dravida’ being skipped in the national anthem. 

Pointing out that skipping the word in the Tamil anthem violates the state’s law, Mr Stalin accused the governor of insulting national unity and the people of many races in the guise of celebrating Hindi. 

“Will the governor who suffers from a Dravidian allergy ask them to leave out ‘Dravida’ in the national anthem? The Union Government should immediately recall the Governor who is deliberately insulting Tamil Nadu and the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Mr Stalin wrote in Tamil in a post on X.

In a statement, Doordarshan Tamil apologised for the mistake and blamed it on distracted singers. It said there was no intent to disrespect Tamil or the Tamil Anthem and also apologised to the governor for the inconvenience caused to him.