Tamil Nadu Governor asks students to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has stirred up new controversy after reportedly requesting students at an event to chant “Jai Shri Ram.”

Governor Ravi served as the chief guest at a function hosted by a private engineering college in Madurai on Saturday. At the conclusion of his speech, he urged students to shout ‘Jai Shri Ram,’ and a video of this became viral on social media.

In a post on X, senior Congress leader Sasikanth Senthil said, “After being slammed by the Supreme Court and blocked by the State Government, he’s now resorting to stunts like making students chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ just to irritate the system.”

“Clearly frustrated, he’s sending a message that ‘even if the courts rule against me, I will find other ways to push my agenda.’ It’s a dangerous mix of arrogance and defiance that undermines democratic institutions and the principles of the Constitution,” a rough translation of his post in Tamil read.

Congress MLA JMH Hassan Maulaana stated that the Governor’s statements were greatly reprehensible, alleging that he was echoing the rhetoric of the RSS and the BJP.

“The Governor is occupying one of the highest posts in the country but he is speaking like a religious leader… He has become a propaganda master of the RSS and the BJP. See, this is not the way the Governor can act,” the Velachery MLA told ANI.

“What the TN Governor is doing is highly condemnable, he is acting like an RSS face in Tamil Nadu and spreading its ideology. The position he holds is a constitutional post, so he has to remain neutral,” Hassan said. CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan also quipped, “The nomination filing for the BJP president ended yesterday in Chennai, so why is he raising slogans in Thiruparankundram today?”

The Governor of Tamil Nadu was in the spotlight this week after the Supreme Court criticized him for setting aside 10 bills for the President’s approval, even though the state assembly had passed them. Labeling his action as “illegal” and “arbitrary,” the court stated that the Governor had not acted in “good faith.”