தேசிய கீதத்தில் இடம் பெற்ற திராவிடம்.. தமிழ்த்தாய் வாழ்த்தில் தவிர்ப்பு#NationalAnthem | #தமிழ்த்தாய்வாழ்த்து | #TamilThaiVazhthu | #DDTamil | #Hindi | #RNRavi | #Doordarshan pic.twitter.com/aNtlVkiNzq
— PuthiyathalaimuraiTV (@PTTVOnlineNews) October 18, 2024
After heavy rains lashed Chennai, Governor RN Ravi appreciated the ruling DMK government for its preparedness, making several eyebrows rise. AIADMK supporters trolled both the government and Ravi saying that the two had made truce and that the DMK and BJP have come to an understanding. But just a day later, Ravi chose to prove all their opinions wrong. The omission of the word 'Dravida Land' from the Tamil anthem has once again landed the governor in a whirl of controversy, whipping up yet another round of verbal and ideological clash between the two power centres.
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It all started with Ravi's participation at the Hindi month celebration at the office of the Doordarshan and the omission of the lines, ‘Thekkanamum Adhir Sirantha Dravidanal Thirunaadum’ meaning the greatest nation down south in the Dravidian lands. At the Doordarshan’s Hindi month function when the singers skipped the lines Thekkanamum Adhir Sirantha Dravidanal Thirunaadum’ the governor who was seen singing along with them, remained unmoved and continued singing.
As the TV channels flashed the visuals of the governor and the song, Chief Minister MK Stalin immediately took to X and insisted that the Centre recall Ravi. Calling the omission an “insult” to Tamil pride and culture, Stalin condemned Ravi and said he is not fit to hold the position. Calling the governor an “Aryan”, he said Ravi acts according to his whims and fancies and not by law. “In the name of celebrating Hindi, the governor is insulting people from different ethnicities and the country’s unity,” said Stalin. He also asked if the governor will sing the national anthem by skipping the word Dravidam. “Will the Governor, who is allergic to the word Dravidam, sing the National Anthem too by skipping the word Dravidam?”
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While Stalin’s rebuttal is not shocking, what came surprising was the reply from Raj Bhavan, an apology from Doordarshan and a long explanation from Ravi himself. The Raj Bhavan distanced itself from this, saying the governor did not have any role to play in the whole issue. It said that the governor was merely a participant. Raj Bhavan also clarified that the singers missed the sentence containing the word Dravida “inadvertently.” At the same time, the Doordarshan Kendra in Chennai, in a statement, said the sentence was “inadvertently missed due to a distraction” and that there was no “intention on the part of the singers to disrespect Tamils or the Tamil anthem.”
And then, in a separate Twitter message on X, the governor penned a long reply to Stalin, asking several questions and calling his remarks “unparliamentary.” He said that the omission was done by the organisers. Claiming that he loves Tamil language and culture, he said he always loves to sing the Tamil anthem and he knows it by heart. But what added more fuel to the CM-governor spat was Ravi’s speech at the valedictory function of the Hindi month celebrations. He said there has been a consistent attempt to isolate Tamil Nadu from the rest of the country. He said out of the 28 states in the country, 27 have the three-language policy and Tamil Nadu is the only state which doesn’t follow it. “Toxic policies cannot separate Tamil Nadu from India and in the last 50 years, a lot of toxicity has been infused in the minds of people of Tamil Nadu,” he alleged.
Earlier Stalin had actually penned a long letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, criticising the celebration of Hindi month in a non Hindi speaking state. The other major reason for the row was celebrating both Doordarshan Tamil’s golden jubilee along with the valedictory celebration of the Hindi month.
Earlier during an event, when Sankaracharya did not rise up when the anthem was sung triggered a row. As a result, after the Stalin government came to power, on December 17, 2021, a Government Order (GO) was issued by the state. In the GO, the government ordered that the anthem must be sung by well trained singers in all schools and colleges every day and at the beginning of every event in the state. It had also ordered that the anthem should not be played as a recorded song and mandated that everyone except the differently-abled should stand during its rendition at public events.
Tamil anthem and why is it attached to Tamil pride?
In a linguistically boisterous state like Tamil Nadu, the Tamil language, pride and culture have always triggered ideological debates. The Tamil anthem penned by poet P Sundaram pillai popularly known as Manonmaniam Sundaranar, is usually played at the beginning of every government event in Tamil Nadu. An invocation to mother Tamil, the anthem assumes significance as it talks about Tamil language and culture and the importance of being a Dravidian state like Tamil Nadu. Pillai had written it as an invocation to a play called ‘Manonmaniam’ he wrote in 1891. Manonmaniam was a poetic drama and a literary play with 4,500 lines. Alappuzha born Sundaram Pillai served his alma mater at the Maharaja’s college in Thiruvananthapuram, only to be considered as a tall figure in Tamil literature and prose. The lyrics written by him in ‘Neerarum Kadalutha’ hail Tamil as the ‘everlasting and undying youth.’ The song was set to tune by popular music composer MS Viswanathan.
In 1931, the Karanthai Tamil Sangam in Thanjavur, in its annual report published the verses of the poem penned by pillai. And when CN Annadurai was the Chief Minister the Karanthai Tamil Sangam approached him and demanded that the poem should be made as the invocation song. In 1970 after DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi came to power, during an event on March 11th said the song will be played as the invocation in every government event. Subsequently a GO was issued on November 23, 1970 and since then ‘Neerarum Kadalutha’ is sung as the Tamil anthem in every government event.
The song always has a special place among the people, mainly because of the subconscious sense of resistance that Tamils have had towards Hindi over a period of time.
