Congress Boycotts High Tea Hosted by TN Governor on Republic Day

Chennai: The Governor of Tamil Nadu RN Ravi on Wednesday hosted an annual high tea party at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai on the Republic Day. Similarly, invites for this year’s reception, hosted by the Governor, were sent out to all the parties in the state of Tamil Nadu. The party was scheduled at 4:30pm on January 26. 

At this point, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) released at statement that the party would not be attending the high tea hosted by the Governor and would be boycotting it stating reasons such as the Governor’s involvement in the political affairs of the state is highly condemnable. 

The Tamil Nadu state assembly floor leader of the TNCC, MLA Selvaperundhagai, stated that, “Right from the day RN Ravi took charge as the Governor of Tamil Nadu, his intentions have been to unnecessarily interfere in the political affairs of the state. His actions have triggered the political parties so badly that they are demanding the President of India to recall him. He often while addressing gatherings is trying to force feed the wrong history from the perspective of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Time is nearing when Governor RN Ravi will have to answer for all the controversial statements he had made so far. He must immediately study the real historical facts and stop behaving like he is the torch bearer of RSS and BJP in the state. This is why we are boycotting the tea party”. 

Similarly, following the TNCC, the other parties that are in the ruling DMK led alliance in the state of Tamil Nadu have also announced their boycott. The Communist parties including the CPI and the CPI(M) have announced that they would be boycotting the event. Later, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) also made it clear that they would not attend the high tea due to the similar reasons. 

Following this, the other parties in the state including MDMK, MMK etc have also announced the boycott of the high tea hosted by Governor RN Ravi. 

Meanwhile, if we look at the past, the DMK and its alliance parties have mostly boycotted all the receptions hosted by the Raj Bhavan. In 2023, all the parties boycotted the tea party following the controversial speech that was made by Governor RN Ravi in the first assembly session of the year that started with his address where he purposefully omitted words such as ‘Tamil Nadu’, ‘peaceful state’, ‘Ambedkar’, ‘Periyar’ etc. which triggered the DMK and its alliance parties who boycotted the high tea party stating the reason. 

Similarly, when Governor RN Ravi invited all the parties for an evening reception on April 14, in 2023 to celebrate the Tamil New Year, all the parties declined it and boycotted the party stating that the Governor did not give assent to the bill banning the Online Rummy game. 

Therefore, as the tussle between the Governor of Tamil Nadu RN Ravi and the DMK led government of Tamil Nadu is still underway, all the parties in the alliance have boycotted his high tea reception on Republic Day this year as well. Well, all eyes at the DMK party as the ruling party is yet to take a call on its attendance for the same.