CHENNAI: Taking their prolonged spat to Rashtrapati Bhavan, chief minister M K Stalin on Saturday wrote a detailed letter to President Droupadi Murmu, urging her to drop governor R N Ravi from his post, terming him “biased and unfit” to continue in the post.
The letter was sent the same day that the governor met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi and the Raj Bhavan termed it “a purposeful meeting”.
Stalin, in his letter, raised four key issues, recalling all the incidents when Ravi was at loggerheads with the state government, right from the time he was appointed Tamil Nadu governor in September, 2021.
He said the governor was “acting against the values enshrined in the Constitution” and was disturbing the peace of the state. “The governor, who took a pledge under Article 159 of the Indian Constitution to uphold the values enshrined in it, is whipping up communal hatred and is a threat to TN’s peace,” said Stalin.
He further said the governor holds office under the pleasure of the President and it is up to the President to decide whether to retain him in the post or to remove him. “Under Article 156(1) of the Constitution, the governor shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. To protect the interests and honour of the makers of the Constitution, it is up to the President to decide whether the governor should continue in his post or should be removed,” said Stalin.
“The governor on one hand refused to give permission to CBI which sought permission to inquire into corruption charges against former AIADMK ministers and on the other, recommended dismissal of a minister in my cabinet just when the inquiry had begun. Through these activities the governor has proved that he is biased and unfit to continue in the top post in the state,” the CM said.
Terming the act of the governor, who refused to accept minister V Senthil Balaji being allowed to continue as a minister without a portfolio, as “anti-Constitutional behaviour”, Stalin said Ravi was acting against the Indian Constitution. “One of my ministerial colleagues Senthil Balaji fell ill on June 15 and underwent surgery. When I wrote a letter to the governor about the change of portfolio held by Senthil Balaji and to make him minister without portfolio, the governor accepted only the recommendation to change the portfolio but refused to accept him continuing as minister without portfolio, which is a direct violation of Article 164 (1) of the Indian Constitution,” said Stalin.
“At the height of the developments, the governor, on June 29, cited Articles 153, 163 and 164 of the Indian Constitution and wrote a letter saying that Senthil Balaji is dismissed from the cabinet, but the same day, at 11.45 pm, he wrote another letter saying that the decision to dismiss Senthil Balaji is kept in abeyance as the Union Home ministry directed the governor to obtain opinion from the Attorney General on the issue. The activities of the governor have become a debate across the country and he has belittled his post through his activities,” said Stalin.
Recalling the delay in the governor giving assent to the bills passed by the assembly, Stalin said “through his activities, he has proved that he is unfit” to continue in his post. “The state assembly passed several important bills and sent them to the governor for his assent. The governor not giving assent to bills and delaying them is disheartening. This is directly interfering with the administration of the state government and functioning of the state assembly,” said Stalin.
“The governor should not misuse the provision that there is no timeframe given for providing assent to the bills and makers of the Indian Constitution would not have thought that people holding such high positions would do this,” said Stalin.
Recently, the Raj Bhavan replied to a letter from the state law minister that the governor did not receive any request to investigate former minister M R Vijayabaskar. Stalin attached the file numbers of all the cases sent to the governor and said that it was the governor, who was delaying the investigation.
“The governor has put the files in which investigation is pending against former AIADMK ministers in cold storage and did not give permission to CBI to inquire into the case based on the direction of the Madras High Court” said Stalin. He listed the names of four former ministers B V Ramana, C Vijayabaskar, K C Veeramani and M R Vijayabaskar and listed the file numbers submitted to the governor.
Stalin alleged that the governor was “supporting perpetrators in crime” and was delaying the investigation. “Last September and October, following complaints of child marriage, two dikshitars were arrested under section 366(h) of IPC and the child marriage act, 2006. Eight men and three women were arrested in the case. Under the scenario, the governor in an interview to TOI has claimed that there were no child marriages and false complaints were obtained. The statement of the governor had a great impact on the investigation but after the videos of child marriage surfaced online, the governor was proved wrong,” said Stalin.
“Similarly, the governor claimed that the banned two-finger test was performed on two girls studying in standards 6 and 7 and the test forced them to attempt suicide. Even this claim was proved wrong after investigation,” said Stalin