When RN Ravi was sworn in as Tamil Nadu governor in September 2021, he had told mediapersons that he hoped to make his relationship with the DMK government “as beautiful as possible in the days to come.” Considering the number of times the governor has locked horns with the state government since then, the relationship between the two parties has been anything but.
In the latest controversy on Thursday evening, 29 June, Ravi dismissed V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers and released a statement justifying his decision.
“There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of Thiru V. Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law including fair investigation that may eventually lead to breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the State," the statement read.
Balaji is under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate for an alleged job scam from 2015 when he was a minister in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government.
He was arrested on 14 June by the ED and is currently in judicial custody in a private hospital after he underwent a heart bypass surgery.
Chief Minister MK Stalin took strong objections to his minister's dismissal saying, “He (the Governor) doesn’t have those powers (to dismiss the minister). We will face this legally.”
By late evening, Ravi had backtracked on his decision, saying "the order of dismissal of the minister Thiru. V Senthil Balaji may be kept in abeyance until further communication from me."
However, this is only the latest instance of the governor either interfering in or obstructing the business of the state government, leading to the accusations that he is working at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Career as Civil Servant
RN Ravi, 71, was born in Patna, Bihar in a Bhumihar family. He has a master's degree in Physics, which he received in 1974. Two years later, he joined the Indian Police Service and served in Kerala for over a decade.
He later had a stint in the Central Bureau of Investigation before shifting to the Intelligence Bureau. At IB, he worked closely with National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval during the latter’s stint as director. Ravi was in-charge of the Northeast desk. He retired as IB Special Director in 2012.
Post-retirement, he was appointed as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 2014 for three years, was later made Deputy National Security Advisor in 2018.
Interlocutor in Naga Peace Talks
RN Ravi was the government’s interlocutor for the talks with Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM). He was instrumental in bringing several groups together for the Naga peace accord.
On 3 August 2015, RN Ravi signed a framework agreement on behalf of the government of India with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak Muivah) (NSCN-IM) to end the decades-old Naga insurgency.
On 17 November 2017, a second agreement was signed with the Working Committee (WC) of Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs).
Ravi had been criticised for holding talks only with the NSCN-IM and not other groups. He had justified it saying other groups didn’t come for the meetings and the NSCN-IM was the largest group representing the Nagas.
However, in later year, Ravi was perceived to be targeting the NSCN-IM while being soft on its rival Naga National Political Groups comprising seven extremist groups, according to a report in The Hindu.
Terms as Governor
RN Ravi was appointed as governor of Nagaland in July 2019 while continuing with his post as interlocutor in the Naga peace talks.
Just like Tamil Nadu, he allegedly created trouble for the Nagaland government headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio during his term there.
In January 2021, he had issued an order stipulating stern penal and disciplinary action against government servants who post “seditious and subversive” content on social media, “challenging the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.”
A year earlier, the governor's office had written a letter to the chief secretary stating the "governor's desire to have a database of state government's employees' family members and relatives in underground organisations."
After he was moved to Tamil Nadu in September 2021, NDPP president Chingwang Konyak had said the Nagaland government was not happy with the way Mr. Ravi functioned. “He interfered in the affairs of a popular government". Interestingly, the NDPP is an ally of the BJP.
Since his stint began in Tamil Nadu in 2021, he has wrestled with the MK Stalin-led state government. So much so that in November 2022, MPs belonging to the DMK and allies submitted a memorandum to the President of India asking for the removal of Ravi as governor.
The DMK's primary grouse was that the governor was stalling assent to the bills passed by state legislature.
They alleged that the governor's apathy had led to a constitutional stalemate with the state government. They accused Ravi of using his constitutional office to further the political agenda of the BJP.
In January 2023, while addressing the year's first session of the legislative assembly, Ravi skipped portions referring to social justice stalwarts and Dravidian model of governance in the printed copy of the speech.
The omitted lines read,
“Following the principles and ideals of stalwarts like Thanthai Periyar, Annal Ambedkar, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar, Perarignar Anna and Muthamizh Arignar Kalaignar, this government has been delivering the much acclaimed Dravidian Model of governance to its people.”
After Stalin took objection to the deviation from the approved copy of the speech, Ravi abruptly walked out of the house.
Thamizhagam vs Tamil Nadu
Ravi, who is known for his outspoken nature, has made many controversial statement since he took charge as the governor of Tamil Nadu. The DMK government, on occasion, has accused him of contradicting the secular ethos of the Constitution for his many religiously coloured remarks.
In January, he raked up a controversy about the name of the state. At an event organised to felicitate volunteers of Kashi Tamil Sangamam, Ravi said,
"Thamizhagam would be a more appropriate word to call the state (Tamil Nadu)...There has been regressive politics with the wrong habit of refusing everything that benefits all sections of people including academicians blindly for their own interests, claiming that the state is not integrally part of India."
Writing about the controversy, The Quint's Nikhila Henry opined that "the Governor's suggestion to replace Tamil Nadu with Thamizhagam was interpreted, by his detractors, as an attempt to erase Tamil identity which Tamil Nadu's stalwart social and political leaders including 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy and DMK's CN Annadurai had upheld."
A week after the controversy, the governor went back on his remarks and claimed that he was merely referring to the ancient Tamil region and didn't anywhere speak about changing the name of the state from Tamil Nadu to Thamizhagam.
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