Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday said the decision of Governor R.N. Ravi to withhold assent to the Bills adopted by the State Assembly was “illegal, anti-people, against his conscience and above all, against the sovereignty of the Assembly.”
Moving a government resolution for reconsidering and passing those Bills in a special session of the Assembly, Mr. Stalin said the Governor could extend help to the development of the State and make use of his proximity to the Centre to get funding for State projects, facilitate construction of building for AIIMS in Madurai, get the pending GST amount due to Tamil Nadu and new railway projects.
The main Opposition AIADMK led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami and BJP members led by Nainar Nagenthiran staged a walk-out.
Mr. Stalin said the Tamil Nadu Governor should act as a bridge between the State government and the Centre. “But without doing any of these, he is planning and placing hurdles for the State government’s schemes everyday,” he alleged.
Mr. Stalin accused the Governor of adopting a confrontational approach with the government which, he said, was against the Constitution. “The government has written to the President to advise the Governor in an appropriate manner. The MPs from the State had met the President and made a request. We have also approached the Supreme Court,” he said.
Mr. Stalin alleged that the DMK government was driven by the goal of people’s welfare and it had secured a place in people’s minds through its pioneering schemes.
“Some people are not able to digest the development because of political reasons and are bent upon crippling the administration through the office of the Governor,” he alleged.
Mr. Stalin also said the Governor assembles some people on a daily basis at the Raj Bhavan and takes classes for them. “He is teaching them wrong lessons,” he quipped.
The Chief Minister said he had no objection to the Governor attending functions. “But he is articulating unnecessary views. It is unbecoming of the Governor to discuss and explain the government’s policy on public platforms,” the Chief Minister pointed out.
Alleging that the Governor was not able to accept the fact that the people of Tamil Nadu cherished the ideas of Dravidianism, socialism, social justice, rationalism and self-respect, he said Mr. Ravi was expressing opinions against Tamil culture, literature and social order.
The Chief Minister said the views of the Governor had made it clear to everyone that he had problems not just with the Assembly or the Bills adopted by it, but also against the idea of social justice. “That is why he is creating stumbling blocks,” he added.
Mr. Stalin said even though “we have made the Governor understand our stand, neutral people were of the opinion that the Governor was not able to stomach the development of Tamil Nadu.”
Mr. Stalin said the views expressed by the Supreme Court against the functioning of the Governor was the first victory for the Assembly. “When the matter is pending before the court, the Governor has returned the Bills and the files in a hurried manner without giving his consent,” he said.
Reiterating that the Constitution had vested absolute power on the Assembly elected by the people and if the Assembly, he said as per article 200 of the Constitution, passed the above-mentioned Bills again and presented them to the Governor for assent, he should not withhold assent therefrom.
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“Only on the basis of this, all the 10 Bills are placed before the House for reconsidering and passing,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said though the Governor post had to be dispensed with, in a democracy it should be respected so long as it was allowed to continue.
Accusing the BJP government of using Governors to create trouble in non-BJP ruling states, Mr. Stalin said the Governor had returned the Bills and enacted a drama of giving consent to a few of them after the Supreme Court had indicted him.
“He is doing what he knows. But we follow the Constitution. I request the members of the House to reconsider and adopt the 10 resolutions returned by the Governor with the note that he had withheld consent for them,” the Chief Minister said.
