Backlash mounts against Governor RN Ravi, and BJP jumps to his rescue

Chennai: On Tuesday, opposition to Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi spilled onto the streets, a day after the government-governor standoff reached a boiling point.

Protests were held across the state by DMK cadres, allies, Tamil outfit members, and college students. In a few places, governors’ effigies were set on fire. The hostility between Raj Bhavan and Fort St. George sparked a poster war, with walls plastered with posters for and against Ravi, even as the BJP defended the governor.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin directed DMK party members not to attack the governor. At a meeting of party MLAs in Chennai, Stalin asked them not to expend their energy on “negative politics.” “Remove the posters criticizing the governor and concentrate on bringing the DMK’s development policies to the people,” he told MLAs.

The tone for the day was set in Coimbatore, one of the BJP’s strongholds, when Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) members gathered in front of the statue of social reformer E V R Periyar at Gandhipuram and raised anti-governor slogans. Members set fire to photographs and an effigy of the governor. While police were detaining protesting TPDK members, another group from the same organization set fire to the governor’s effigy. They were also detained.

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“We strongly condemn the governor for omitting the names of Ambedkar, Periyar (DK founder E V Ramasamy), and Anna (DMK founder and late chief minister C N Annadurai) in his speech in the state assembly. “By walking out before the anthem was played, he disrespected the assembly and the national anthem,” said TPDK organizing secretary V Aruchamy.
Students from various colleges in Chennai, Salem, Dharmapuri, Thiruvallur, and Tiruvannamalai held slogan-shouting protests in front of their institutions as political organizations agitated against the governor. They claimed RN Ravi was behaving like a BJP leader and demanded that he be recalled by the center. Protesters were joined by advocates as well.

Protests against the governor of Tamil Nadu were also held in the neighboring Union Territory of Puducherry. When police attempted to prevent the burning of an effigy of RN Ravi, there was a minor scuffle.

The BJP jumped to the governor’s defense, plastering posters on street walls to counter the DMK’s. Ravi was hailed on posters found on the walls of Pudukottai town. TPDK members were protesting in Coimbatore, so BJP cadres gathered at the party office in Sidhapurthur and attempted to march to Gandhipuram in Coimbatore to hold a counter-protest. However, police intervened and apprehended them.