Tamil Nadu Governor, R.N. Ravi on Saturday, said he hoped to make his relationship with the DMK government “as beautiful as possible in the days to come” and that governance was the responsibility of the government, and the role of the Governor would be to function within the parameters laid out in the Constitution.
Chief Justice of the Madras High Court Justice Sanjib Banerjee administered the oath of office to Mr. Ravi. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, who accompanied Mr. Ravi to the stage, presented a book to the new Governor after he took his oath of office. He also felicitated Mr. Ravi's wife.
Former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Union Minister of State L. Murugan of the BJP, Tamil Maanila Congress president G.K. Vasan and MDMK general secretary Vaiko were among the other leaders who graced the occasion.
While the Congress, Left parties and the VCK did not attend the event, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri told The Hindu that the Congress did not boycott the event and that he had been invited for the event but was travelling and hence could not attend.
Minutes after being sworn in as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Ravi was asked about apprehensions among certain political parties that a former Intelligence Bureau officer was being made Governor. “The slate of our relationship [Governor and TN government] is absolutely new and clean. My effort will be to make it as beautiful as possible in the days to come,” he said.
Mr. Ravi said India had benefited enormously from the intellectual, spiritual, artistic wealth of Tamil Nadu and its political wisdom. “In fact, this place and the people have influenced and shaped to a great deal the very idea of India,” he said.
The new Governor said Tamil Nadu had in place, a popular government mandated by the people. “Governance is the responsibility of the government. Governor is to function within the parameters of the Constitution. I will try to keep that in mind,” he said.
Asked about his assessment of the performance of the DMK government, he said it was too premature for him to say but that it seemed to be doing well, especially in the way it had handled COVID-19 and brought down the number of cases.
To a question on whether he would play a role in bridging any differences between Tamil Nadu and the Union government, either in procuring more vaccines or any political issues, he said a pandemic like COVID-19 was above party politics and above the differences, “if at all between a State and the Union [government]”. Mr. Ravi said it was a collective effort and COVID-19 had to be defeated cooperatively.
