'Dravida' word omission: CM Stalin urges Centre to recall TN Guv RN Ravi amid row over state anthem
Chennai, Oct 18: Singers missed a line from Tamil Nadu's state anthem during its rendition in an event presided by Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi here on Friday and it led to a war of words between Chief Minister M K Stalin and Ravi besides resulting in a political uproar.
In the Doordarshan Kendra Chennai's Hindi month valedictory function, a sentence "Thekkanamum adhil sirantha Dravida nal thiru naadum" went missing when the singers sang the anthem at the DD Tamil office here.
Reacting to it, the chief minister accused the governor of insulting the unity of the country, Tamil Nadu and its people and demanded that he be recalled by the Centre. He said that a person who doesn't abide by the law and acts as per his wishes was not fit to hold that office and wondered if Ravi was a governor or an 'Aryan.'
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami strongly condemned the omission and said it was a blunder and other parties including Congress condemned the Governor.
Ravi termed Stalin's reaction as regrettable and accused the CM of making a racist remark against him and for having levelled, "false allegation of showing disrespect to Tamizh Thaai Valthu."
Ravi said the allegation against him was "unfortunately cheap and lowers the dignity of the high constitutional office of the chief minister."
Meanwhile, Doordarshan Kendra Chennai apologised for 'inadvertent mistake,' and said singers had no intention to disrespect Tamil or Tamizh Thaai Valthu, the state song.
Taking strong exception, Stalin said removing the words was a violation.
The chief minister, in a post on social media, accused the governor of insulting the unity of the country and the people of different races living in the land, under the guise of observing Hindi month.
"Will the governor, suffering from the Dravidian allergy, ask the people to sing the national anthem leaving out Dravida?" the chief minister asked and demanded the Centre to immediately recall Ravi for deliberating insulting Tamil Nadu and the sentiments of the people of the state.
Governor Ravi said in a post on 'X' that the CM knows well that he recites full 'Tamizh Thaai Valthu' at every function with reverence, pride and precision. The CM was aware that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Central government 'proudly created' several institutions for spread of Tamil language and heritage within India including Tamil Nadu and several countries of the world. PM Modi took Tamil even to the United Nations, the governor said.
Furthermore, he said: "As a proud Indian I myself have taken numerous substantive initiatives to spread Tamil, the oldest and richest living language, in other states of the country, the latest being to set up , with cooperation of the Assam govt, a Tamil diploma course in Gauhati University for spread of Tamil in the North East."
Ravi said, "Since he (Stalin) rushed to public with his racist remarks and false imputations, I am constrained to respond."
AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Palaniswami said: "It was a blunder to skip the words. This is highly condemnable. The word Dravidam is a great revolution against oppression."
The word Dravidian stood for the world's oldest civilisation. "Whoever has omitted it hurt the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu and belittles the Dravidian culture and such actions should be stopped," Palaniswami said on 'X'.
As the controversy over skipping a line from the state anthem raged, Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai, later clarified that a line was "inadvertently missed" while rendering the Tamizh Thaai Valthu, and "this happened due to a distraction."
"We apologise for the inadvertent mistake. There was no intention from the singers to disrespect Tamil or Tamizh Thaai Valthu. In this regard, we apologise for the inconvenience caused to the Hon'ble Governor of Tamil Nadu," a statement from Doordarshan Tamil, said.
The Tamizh Thaai Valthu was made the state anthem after M K Stalin became Chief Minister in 2021. The song was authored by Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai. The DD event also marked beginning of the golden jubilee celebrations of Doordarshan Chennai, which commenced operations here in 1975.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
