Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi has triggered a fresh row after he allegedly asked students to chant "Jai Shri Ram" at a function in Madurai.
A video of the Governor making an appeal to the students in honour of poet who wrote Kamba Ramayanam has gone viral.
"On this day, let us pay tribute to the one who was a great devotee of Shri Ram. I would say and you would say Jai Shri Ram," Ravi said on Saturday at an event at a private engineering college in Madurai.
The remarks has drawn condemnation from political parties and academic bodies. The ruling DMK in the state has hit out at the Governor calling him the 'spokesperson' for the RSS.
DMK spokesperson Dharanidharan said that the Governor's statement goes against the secular values of the country.
"This goes against the secular values of the country. Why does the Governor time and again wants to violate the Constitution. Why has he not resigned yet? He is an RSS spokesperson. We know how he violated the federal tenets of the Country and how Supreme Court has shown him his place," DMK spokesperson Dharanidharan said.
Meanwhile, non-profit SPCSS-TN (State Platform for Common School System - Tamil Nadu), in a statement, said, "Mr RN Ravi violated his oath of office. He failed to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions. Mr RN Ravi should be removed from the Office of Governor of Tamil Nadu forthwith for deliberately violating Article 159 of the Constitution of India".
Congress MLA Aassan Maulana also attacked the Governor for his statements and said he was speaking like a religious leader "who is promoting a religious ideology".
Another Congress leader Sasikanth Senthil, in a post on X, 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."
The Tamil Nadu Governor was in news recently after the Supreme Court called him out for reserving 10 bills for the President's assent despite the state assembly clearing them.