TN Governor Ravi walks out of Assembly, refrains from reading out address
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi on Monday walked out of the Assembly without delivering his customary Address, opposing what he described as 'disrespect' to the Constitution and the national anthem.
A few moments before Ravi began making his remarks, members of the main opposition AIADMK gathered in front of the chair and raised slogans and they were evicted en masse by marshalls following Speaker M Appavu's directive.
At the same time, as Congress party members also raised slogans against the Governor by wearing black badges, nothing could be properly understood in the din. Subsequently, members of the BJP and PMK staged walked out.
In a tweet, Raj Bhavan alleged, the Constitution and the national anthem were once again insulted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
"Respecting the national anthem is among the first fundamental duty as enshrined in our Constitution. It is sung in all the state legislatures at the beginning and the end of Governor's address. Today, on arrival of Governor to the House only Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu (Invocation to mother Tamil, state song) was sung."
Further, the tweet said the Governor respectfully reminded the House of its Constitutional duty and fervently appealed to the Chief Minister, the Leader of the House and the Speaker for singing the National Anthem.
"However, they cussedly refused. It is a matter of grave concern. Not to be a party to such brazen disrespect to the Constitution and the national anthem, Governor in deep anguish left the House."
Leader of the House and senior minister Duraimurugan said the Governor has repeated what he did in previous years, which was not reading the Address fully in the House.
On Ravi's allegation vis-a-vis national anthem, the minister said that when the Governor sent a letter to the Speaker last year on the same subject, it was made clear then that the practice followed was to sing the state song ahead of the address and the national anthem was played upon the conclusion of the address.
"Still, the Governor again mentioning the same thing as an issue and walking out without reading out the Address raises a question mark about his true intention," he said.
The people, the House and the government always showed great respect towards the nation, the national anthem, national leaders, and greatly valued patriotism and national integration.
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Odisha: Normalcy returns to violence-hit Malkangiri; internet services fully restored
Malkangiri (PTI): Normalcy returned to Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Monday, nearly a week after around 200 villages were damaged in violent clashes in a village, with the district administration fully restoring internet services, a senior official said.
Additional District Magistrate Bedabar Pradhan said internet services, suspended across the district on December 8 to curb the spread of rumours and misinformation following the clashes, were restored after the situation improved.
The suspension had been extended in phases till 12 noon on Monday.
The administration also withdrew prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita within a 10-km radius of MV-26 village, where arson incidents were reported on December 7 and December 8.
Though the violence was confined to two villages, tension had gripped the entire district, as the incident took the form of a clash between local tribals and Bengali settlers following the recovery of a headless body of a woman on December 4, officials said.
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The violence broke out after residents of Rakhelguda village allegedly set ablaze several houses belonging to Bengali residents, forcing hundreds to flee. The headless body of Lake Podiami (51), a woman from the Koya tribe, was recovered from the banks of the Poteru river on December 4, while her head was found six days later at a location about 15 km away.
Officials said the district administration held several rounds of discussions with representatives of the tribal and Bengali communities, following which both sides agreed to maintain peace.
Relief and rehabilitation work has since been launched at MV-26 village, with preliminary assessment pegging property damage at around Rs 3.8 crore.
A two-member ministerial team headed by Deputy Chief Minister K V Singh Deo visited the affected village, interacted with officials and locals, and submitted a report to the chief minister.
So far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the violence, the officials said, adding that despite the withdrawal of prohibitory orders and restoration of internet services, security forces, including BSF and CRPF personnel, continue to be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.
On Sunday, Nabarangpur MP Balabhadra Majhi visited MV-26 and neighbouring Rakhelguda villages, and held discussions with members of both communities as part of efforts to rebuild confidence and restore peace.
More than two lakh Bengali-speaking Bangladeshis were rehabilitated by the Centre in Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts in 1968, and they currently reside in 124 villages of Malkangiri.
