The Tamil Nadu government boycotted a tea party, and a statue unveiling function organised at Raj Bhavan on Thursday to protest against the “undue delay” on the part of Governor R N Ravi in exercising his constitutional responsibilities.
The government’s boycott was in protest against the alleged delay on Governor Ravi’s part in giving assent to a minimum of 11 Bills passed by the state Assembly, including the politically contentious anti-NEET Bill.
There were as many as 20 or 21 Bills pending the Governor’s assent towards March-end, a senior government secretary told news media. The NEET abolition Bill passed in September 2021 was a bid to exempt the state from the centralised NEET medical entrance exam so that the state could go ahead with its earlier system for entry to medical colleges based on the candidates’ 12th Grade marks.
Governor Ravi later in February returned the Bill, saying that it was “against the interest of students, especially rural and economically poor students of the state,” following which a special Assembly session had unanimously re-adopted the anti-NEET Bill.
After meeting the Governor, state Industries Minister Thangam Thennarasu and Health Minister Ma Subramanian said the government’s decision to boycott the event was to “uphold the constitutional values and pride of the state legislature and the sentiments of people,” including that of thousands of medical aspirants who are waiting for their admissions in June 2022.
Chief Minister M K Stalin, along with Cabinet ministers, and MLAs of the ruling DMK boycotted 2 scheduled events at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening – which included the statue unveiling of poet Subramania Bharathi, followed by a tea party to be hosted by Governor Ravi. The ruling DMK’s allies – VC, MMK,Congress, and Left parties also stayed away from the day’s events.
Minister Thennarasu said Governor Ravi had forced the state government’s hand as he had failed to give assurances or even a schedule for giving assent to the long-pending Bills. “For instance, the anti-NEET Bill has been pending for a long time, ever since the government passed it in the Assembly last September. Initially, the Governor sat on the files for 142 days and then sent them back. The government took immediate steps to return it for assent, but it was not considered. It has been held up for 208 days now,” he added.
He noted that Chief Minister Stalin had even met the Governor and requested him in person but was told that the Bill had been sent to the President. “Finally, Chief Minister Stalin raised the issue with Prime Minister since the next academic year is coming up and the dreams of hundreds of medical aspirants depend on the Bill. But, unfortunately, when we met him today, he was again non-committal even after 208 days,” said Thennarasu.
Apart from the anti-NEET Bill, a Cabinet decision to release seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case has been pending since September 2018. The Cooperative Societies Bill to reduce the term of the cooperative societies’ board from 5 to 3 years and one to amend the Bharathiar University Act to add five members to the syndicate are some other bills awaiting the Governor’s assent
Tamil Nadu, a state that loves enjoying its autonomy and federal powers, has had several instances of disagreements with the government and the Governor. Some of the notable instances were between M Chenna Reddy and J Jayalalitha in 1994 and 1995. Jayalalitha, during her first tenure as CM, even send standing orders to senior bureaucrats to boycott the Governor.
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