Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi should free himself from divisive forces and discharge duties as per Constitutional norms, if he intends to continue as governor, Chief Minister M K Stalin said, and asked him to desist from converting Raj Bhavan into a political party office to depict Dravidian race in poor light.

The already strained relations between the Tamil Nadu government and the Governor escalated sharply on Friday (18 October) after Chief Minister M K Stalin said a line with the word 'Dravida' was skipped when the Tamil anthem was sung at an event attended by Governor RN Ravi.

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin questioned why Ravi did not immediately condemn the omission of the line, which refers to the greatness of the Dravidian land in the Deccan.

CHENNAI: On a day when Chief Minister M K Stalin protested Hindi imposition by New Delhi, a spat broke out between Governor R N Ravi and Stalin after singers missed the ‘Thekkanamum Adhir Sirantha Dravida Nal Thirunaadum’ line from the ‘Tamizh Thaai Vaazhthu’ rendered at Doordarshan (DD) Kendra Chennai’s Hindi month valedictory function presided

Singers missed a line from Tamil Nadu's state anthem during its rendition in an event presided by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi.

Several other political party leaders to joined in condemned the Governor. Earlier in the day, Stalin had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi objecting to the combining of the Hindi month celebrations at DD Tamil with the golden jubilee of the Doordarshan Chennai.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has posed a series of questions to Governor RN Ravi regarding a missing line from Tamil Nadu's state anthem during its rendition in an event, indicating the verbal fight between the two is far from over.

Urging the Centre to recall the governor, Stalin accused RN Ravi of insulting national unity and the governor also hit back, claiming that the chief minister had made a racist remark against him.

The DMK supremo called it an insult to the state and the Tamil language, and demanded from the Centre to immediately remove Ravi, saying that he suffers from 'Dravidian allergy'.