Tamil Nadu: Annamalai Takes On DMK’s Propaganda Against Governor In Dindigul Press Meet

At a press meet conducted in Dindigul after returning from his pilgrimage to Sabarimala, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai, came down heavily on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party regarding its clash with Governor RN Ravi as well as other issues faced by the people of the state.

Tamizhagam Vs Tamil Nadu Issue

Annamalai reiterated that he feels that Tamizhagam and Tamil Nadu are one and the same thing and that the DMK is unnecessarily creating a ruckus out of the Governor’s statement.

He added that even Chief Minister MK Stalin used the term Tamizhagam frequently in his speeches.

Regarding The Governor’s Speech

Annamalai said that first of all the DMK should feel happy that the Governor had tried to say some of his speech in Tamil.

Regarding the text, he said that while the DMK’s contention that the Governor usually reads out the speech prepared by the government, is not disputed by him, but the government should at least check the facts before sending a speech to the Governor.

He asked as to how the government could expect the Governor to read out lies or wrong information?

He gave examples of how the DMK government, through the speech, wanted to give credit to itself for bringing back fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, and said that it was not right to do so as the external affairs domain lies with the centre.

The other example he gave was regarding the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) received by the state. This was reported in Swarajya in a detailed report on which parts of his speech did the Governor skip and why.

Objection To The Use Of ‘Ondriya Arasu’ For The Union Government By The Governor

Annamalai said that the words ‘Ondriya Arasu’ to denote the union government were brought in by former chief minister M Karunanidhi, but the word does not reflect the federal nature of the Republic of India.

It would be better to stick to ‘Maanila Arasu’ for the state government and ‘Madhya Arasu’ for the central government.

The Governor had objected to 'Ondriya Arasu' saying that it was probably being used with the intention of belittling or being disrespectful to the union government, as the word ‘Ondriyam’ refers to a subdivision.

Governor Not Sitting On Bills

Annamalai said that the DMK was lying when it said that the Governor is not signing any of the bills.

Reading out numbers from his phone, he said that in 2021, the Governor gave his assent to all the 25 bills that had come to him and in 2022, out of the 58 bills received, the Governor had given his assent to 45 bills.

Discussing the unsigned bills with the reporters, Annamalai said that there were 15 such bills, out of which 12 bills are regarding the same subject of replacing the Governor, as the Chancellor of state universities, with the Chief Minister. He said that each of the bills deals with one state university.

When asked as to why the Governor was not giving assent to these bills, Annamalai said that these go against the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and also as education is a subject in the concurrent list, the bills may not stand scrutiny in court.

The three bills that remain are on the issues of co-operatives, private colleges and online rummy.

Regarding the bills on co-operatives and private colleges, he said that these had provisions that go against democracy and fundamental rights of the people.

The Co-operatives Bill

Giving reasons as to why he thinks that the bill is against democracy, he said that in the present system, if there is any irregularity in cooperatives, the government appoints an officer, who conducts an enquiry within two months and gives a chance to the office bearers to respond. Based on their response and the findings of the enquiry, the officer bearer(s) are dismissed.

However, in the new system proposed by the bill, the government can straightaway dismiss the office bearers and call for fresh elections.

He alleged that the government had brought such a bill in order to get DMK members elected in cooperatives by dismissing the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) affiliated office bearers.

The Private Colleges Bill

He said that this was similar to the Co-operatives Bill, as in, the government was allowed to take over full control of private colleges if any irregularities are found to be happening.

These kind of sweeping powers, he said, were liable to be misused.

Online Rummy Bill

Annamalai said that the Governor had not signed the bill because of two reasons:

• The bill dealt with ‘cyberspace’ which does not fall in the subjects under the state list.

Regarding the stance of the Tamil Nadu BJP, he said that the party too desires a ban on online rummy, but the correct process must be followed.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu: Exactly Which Parts Of His Speech Did Governor Ravi Skip And Why