Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, Wednesday, clarified his “Tamizhagam” comment, saying that he never meant to infer changing the name of the state.

Ravi said that the word “Tamizhagam” refers to the historical cultural connect between the Tamil people and Kashi in the ancient past when there was no Tamil Nadu state.

He said that it was “erroneous and far-fetched” to interpret his comments as a suggestion to change the name of Tamil Nadu.

In a literal sense, Tamil Nadu means “the land of Tamils”, which many critics believe pushes for the narrative of the state not being an integral part of India. Whereas, Tamizhagam means the “home of the Tamil people”, a definition which is viewed by nationalists more appropriate.

Ravi shot down arguments by the state governments that his comments indicated he was against the word Tamil Nadu.

The clarification comes after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged President Draupadi Murmu to intervene and ensure the governor abides by the Constitution.

Stalin and his party DMK have been at odds with Ravi regularly and hostilities reached a fever pitch when the Governor went off-script while reading out an official speech approved by the government in the assembly.

Congress among other allies of the DMK have also demanded the Governor’s recall.

While speaking at an event on January 4, Ravi had said: “Whatever applies to the entire country, Tamil Nadu says no. It has become a habit. Truth must prevail. Tamizhagam is a more appropriate word. The rest of the country suffered a lot of devastation at the hands of foreigners for a long time.”

The Governor’s comments created a stir, the ruling DMK accused him of pushing the BJP-RSS agenda as slogans of “Quit Tamil Nadu” were raised in the assembly against him.

Pertinently, the Tamil Tamil version of the Governor’s house Raj Bhavan’s invite for Pongal celebrations referred to him as “Thamizhaga aazhunar” or “Governor of Tamizhagam”.

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A day after the stand-off between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Governor RN Ravi in the Assembly, posters stating Get Out Ravi is being surfaced in West Chennai. The posters are seen in Valluvar Kottam and Anna Salai areas.

The move came after the state Governor RN Ravi, stated that Tamizhagam would be a more appropriate name for the state than Tamil Nadu. Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) workers are protesting in Coimbatore, demanding the removal of Governor RN Ravi from his post by the Center.

On Monday, Ravi walked out of the Assembly after a ruckus broke out between him and the CM. He walked out after the ruling government protested that Ravi had skipped various sections of the speech prepared by the state government which had references to secularism, describing Tamil Nadu as a haven of peace, and mention of leaders like Periyar, CN Annadurai, BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj and Karunanidhi.

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Chief Minister MK Stalin moved a motion urging the Governor to record only the speech prepared by the state government and not add anything or omit any sections from the formal address. However, the assembly witnessed sloganeering such as Quit Tamil Nadu after Ravi started his customary address.

Additionally, the legislators urged the governor to refrain from imposing RSS and BJP ideology in the state. They said This is not Nagaland, this is proud Tamil Nadu.

The DMK government in charge of the state and the Raj Bhavan are also engaged in a political conflict over a number of policies that are pending with the governor, including one that would ban internet gambling and bet-based online games of chance like Rummy.

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Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has slammed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for signing an agreement with Pakistan on terrorism months after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

Addressing a session on Contemporary Challenges to Internal Security in Kochi on Sunday, Tamil Nadu Governor said anyone who uses a gun should be dealt with a gun.

Reiterating India’s Zero Tolerance Policy (ZTP) against terrorism, the Governor also said there should be no negotiation with anyone who talks against the unity and integrity of the country.

Hitting out at the previous UPA government for handling the issue of terrorism after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Ravi said it has to be clear if Pakistan is a friend or an enemy. When the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks happened, the whole country was traumatised and was also humiliated by a handful of terrorists. Within 9 months of the attacks, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan PM signed a joint agreement stating both countries were victims of terrorism, he said.

Ravi, who had played a key role as an interlocutor between the government and the Isak Muivah-led National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM), said there had been no talks with any armed group in the past 8 years if not for surrender.

In 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists (LeT) carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks killing at least 174 people and leaving 300 wounded.

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Ravindra Narayan Ravi on Saturday sworn in as the 26th Governor of Tamil Nadu. Earlier, Banwarilal Purohit was serving as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, and now he has been appointed as governor of Punjab and Administrator of Union Territory of Chandigarh. RN Ravi succeeded Purohit by becoming the 26th governor of Tamil Nadu.

RN Ravi is a former Indian bureaucrat. He was an IPS 1976 batch officer from Kerala, and he retired from the position of Special Director in Intelligence Bureau in 2012. Not only this, he has also been the Deputy National Security Advisor of India.

Earlier, he was serving as the Governor of Nagaland by the order of the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. Now, he has been appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister MK Stalin also welcomed him for the position.

The issue of warrant for the appointment was issued by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 9. Several bureaucrats and leaders of the opposition were present for the appointment including K Palaniswami, several MPs and MLAs.

There were some special invitees too including former Telangana governor ESL Narasimhan, former Chief Justice of India and former Kerala governor P Sathasivam, former national security advisor and former West Bengal governor MK Narayanan.

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However, Congress boycotted the swearing-in ceremony. According to reports, journalists of the Kohima Press Club also boycotted the state farewell programme to show Ravi their resentment when he was shifted to Tamil Nadu since the new governor refused to interact with the media despite several approaches.

In other news, India set a new record on Friday by vaccinations of over 2 crore COVID-19 vaccines. As per Cowin portal, till 5:40 pm, a total of 2,03,25,859 doses of COVID vaccines were given.

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