New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, today (January 20) once again walked out of the legislative assembly without reading his speech for the customary address on the opening day of the first session of the year, later highlighting issues that were ignored in it, through a social media post.This is the latest chapter in Ravi’s ongoing tussle with the Tamil Nadu government, which appears to aim at a gradual expansion of the governor’s powers in the running of the state.Ravi has walked out without ending his customary assembly address earlier as well.In reaction, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin piloted a resolution in the assembly against Ravi’s move and said that his party will work with like-minded parties across the country to bring necessary amendments to the Constitution to do away with the practice of starting an assembly session with governor’s address.“The governor walked out in violation of traditions and ethos. In the state government-prepared address, there is no provision for the governor to include his views or say something else,” Stalin said.The chief minister accused Ravi of “deliberately” doing such things and said his action “amounts to insulting the House.”Reports noted that Ravi entered the House at 9.29 am and left at 9.36 am.At 10.02 am, the official X account of the Tamil Nadu ‘Lok Bhavan’ – Ravi had led the change in the names of Raj Bhavans to ‘Lok Bhavans’ last year – posted a lengthy statement in English, and at 11.18 am, one in Tamil. In it, 13 reasons were given as to why declined to read the speech prepared for him.Ravi’s statementThe statement claimed that Ravi’s microphone was “repeatedly switched off and he was not allowed to speak.”It said that speech had “numerous unsubstantiated claims and misleading statements” and that several crucial issues troubling people were ignored.The government claimed that the state government’s claim that the state attracted huge investments to the tune of over 12 lakh crores “is far from the truth.” “Many of the MOUs with prospective investors remain only on paper. Actual investment is hardly a fraction of it. Investment data show that Tamil Nadu is becoming less attractive for investors. Until four years ago Tamil Nadu, among the states, was the fourth largest recipient of foreign direct investment. Today it is struggling to remain at the Sixth,” the Lok Bhavan statement said.The statement also claimed that the speech ignored the issue of women’s safety issue “though there is alarming increase of over 55% incidents of POCSO eapes and over 33% increase in incidents of sexual molestation of women.”The statement claimed that 2,000 people died by suicide in the past year “due to drug abuse” and accused the government of having “casually bypassed” this.In yet another point, the Lok Bhavan claimed that 20,000 people have died by suicide in the last year and accused the government of not being concerned about it.“Atrocities against Dalits and sexual violence against Dalit women is sharply increasing. However; it is totally bypassed,” the statement said.The statement also claimed that the government “totally bypassed” a reported decline in standards of education, that several thousand village panchayats are reportedly defunct without elections, and that several thousand temples are without board of trustees and are directly administered by the state government.Ravi, through the statement, said that the MSME sectors are under huge stress due to visible and invisible costs of running the industry and that there is widespread discontentment among lower rung employees in almost all sectors.The final point was that the “National Anthem is yet again insulted and the Fundamental Constitutional Duty disregarded.” Reports in the immediate aftermath of his walking out had speculated that the reason could be that the National Anthem was not played after the state anthem, ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu.’