Vaiko wants TN Governor R.N. Ravi removed

Chennai, March 13 MDMK leader Vaiko on Sunday called upon the removal of Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi from the post for making political comments.

In a statement on Sunday, the firebrand leader, who espouses Tamil nationalism, said that the Governor's inaugural address at the South Indian Vice-Chancellors conference, where he said that India was not a "contractual union" unlike the US but an "organic one" was highly deplorable.

Contending that the Governor had exceeded his brief, Vaiko said: "The Governor has gone beyond his powers making such statements and spoke about political views that are highly condemnable."

"The Governor was putting across the political viewpoint of the RSS and Sangh Parivar and his big bosses in New Delhi."

The MDMK leader said that before the advent of British, India had 565 small kingdoms which was the actual history, and added that even during the Mughal rule, Tamil Nadu was never under the rule of north Indian rulers.

He said that Governors were creating roadblocks in the functioning of elected Governments and cited the example of former Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit who is the present Governor of Punjab as well as the Governor of West Bengal, Jagdeep Dhankar who was constantly creating problems for the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.

He also said that Ravi had disrespected the state Assembly by returning the Bill seeking exemption from NEET and said that there was no reason why he should continue even for one day as Governor.