DMK Deputy General Secretary and Parliamentary Party Leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi questioned whether Ravi is a Governor or an administrator of the BJP.
Published Aug 15, 2025 | 5:49 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 15, 2025 | 5:49 PM
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. (Raj Bhavan/ X)
Synopsis: The Governor cautioned that the four challenges, poor and discriminatory education, high suicides, drug abuse, and sexual offences, were holding back Tamil Nadu’s progress and sabotaging the dream of a developed state. He urged collective action to resolve them.
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has stirred up a controversy in the state after the Raj Bhavan released a copy of his speech meant to be delivered at the ceremonial High Tea on Friday, 15 August.
The copy, released on the eve of Independence Day, apparently revealed the Governor’s plan to launch a broadside at the state government after identifying four issues that the Raj Bhavan said warranted immediate attention.
The content of the speech drew sharp criticism, besides sparking a fresh debate on the ongoing tussle between the Governor and the MK Stalin-led state government.
Earlier, Stalin and DMK alliance partners, CPI(M), CPI, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, and Tamil Nadu Congress, turned down an invitation to the High Tea.
Ravi’s planned speech said Tamil Nadu was lagging in several areas, particularly in ensuring women’s safety. The criticism prompted DMK Deputy General Secretary and Parliamentary Party Leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi to question whether Ravi was “a Governor or an administrator of the BJP.”
In his statement, the Governor praised India’s achievements under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including rapid economic growth, lifting 30 crore people out of poverty, becoming the world’s fourth-largest economy, advancements in space exploration, and self-reliance in defence production.
He also highlighted “Operation Sindoor,” a swift military action against Pakistan in response to the 22 April Pahalgam terror attack, as a demonstration of India’s zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism.
The Governor lauded Tamil Nadu’s strong industrial, educational, and healthcare infrastructure, calling it one of India’s top six states in development. He noted the central government’s investments, including over ₹3 lakh crore in grants, ₹2 lakh crore in infrastructure projects, and new medical colleges.
He also celebrated Tamil heritage initiatives such as the Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre in Singapore, chairs for Tamil studies abroad, and cultural festivals commemorating historic Tamil figures.
Governor Ravi also warned of a severe learning crisis in Tamil Nadu’s government schools, where around 60% of students — mainly from poor and marginalised backgrounds — study. He highlighted ASER reports that show that over half of high school students cannot do basic two-digit arithmetic or read primary-level texts, with learning outcomes below the national average.
This, he said, trapped them in a cycle of poverty and discrimination, limiting job opportunities. Social discrimination, especially against Dalits, remains rampant, with instances of physical segregation, assaults, and killings for attempting to share public spaces. He urged the youth to take a pledge to eradicate such practices.
He described Tamil Nadu’s suicide rate as deeply disturbing, about 20,000 deaths annually, over 65 per day, and more than double the national average. The state also ranked worst in family/group suicide pacts. The Governor called each suicide, especially among youth, both a personal and national tragedy, reflecting acute social, psychological, or economic distress, and urged urgent intervention to address the crisis.
The Governor expressed alarm over the rapid growth of synthetic drug abuse among Tamil Nadu’s youth, noting a shift from ganja to far more dangerous substances. Seizures of synthetic drugs in 2024 were 14 times higher than the previous year, and over 2,000 suicides annually are linked to drug use. He alleged the involvement of powerful syndicates with political protection in drug trafficking, and stressed the need to curb demand through awareness campaigns.
He said women and girls in the state increasingly felt unsafe to step out, despite excelling in education and winning more university gold medals than men. Such crimes, he warned, threaten women-led development and the state’s future. He called for harsh punishment for perpetrators and stronger measures to protect women and children.
The Governor cautioned that the four challenges, poor and discriminatory education, high suicides, drug abuse, and sexual offences, were holding back Tamil Nadu’s progress and sabotaging the dream of a developed state. He urged collective action to resolve them.
He concluded by situating India’s role in an unstable global order, calling for unity, national interest above all, and a shared commitment to making “Viksit Bharat 2047” a reality.
Recently, tensions between the Tamil Nadu Governor and the state government had somewhat subsided after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the state in a case where the Governor was accused of withholding assent to Bills passed by the Assembly.
However, on 13 August, at the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University convocation in Tirunelveli, research scholar Jean Joseph refused to accept her doctorate from the Governor, stating that she did not want to receive it from someone “acting against Tamil Nadu and the Tamil language.”
She is the wife of a DMK functionary. The incident gained nationwide attention.
The next evening, the Raj Bhavan released the Governor’s Independence Day eve address, in which he made critical remarks on Tamil Nadu’s law and order, women’s safety, and education. This rekindled political controversy.
Several DMK ministers launched sharp attacks on the Governor. School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told a private news channel that the speech “reveals the Governor’s true standards,” adding that Tamil Nadu is the only state to have formulated its own Education Policy and that criticising the state on a day honouring freedom fighters was “painful.”
He accused the Governor of making the statement deliberately, anticipating a possible reaction from the Union Government.
Municipal Administration and Water Supply Minister KN Nehru, citing a proverb, said the Governor had “done nothing for Tamil or Tamil Nadu,” which is why he was “embarrassed” at the convocation and issued the statement 24 hours later out of “mental frustration.”
He alleged that the Governor acted out of disappointment after DMK alliance leaders boycotted the Independence Day tea party at Raj Bhavan. Nehru further claimed that the Governor’s speech lacked only the explicit line “vote for the BJP,” accusing him of baseless political propaganda.
Nehru also charged that the Governor had turned Raj Bhavan into a “political house,” trying to rival the BJP’s Kamalalayam headquarters, and mocked him as acting like a “brand ambassador for private companies like Rummy and a PRO for NEET coaching centres.” Even after being “exposed” in the Supreme Court, he said, the Governor had not changed.
Kanimozhi, in a social media post, cited the National Crime Records Bureau’s 2022 data on crimes against women, noting that BJP-ruled states Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra topped the list, while Tamil Nadu did not even feature in the top ten.
She questioned why the Governor was “maligning” Tamil Nadu, asking whether he was functioning as the Governor or as a BJP office-bearer.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
