Governor’s address meant for social media reels of TVK, alleges Udhayanidhi Stalin

Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin (DMK) on Thursday said while the Governor’s Address is traditionally regarded as a blueprint of the government’s policies, the address delivered by Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar had merely become material and content for the ruling party to produce social media reels.

“It is an address designed for the Chief Minister (C. Joseph Vijay) to blow his own trumpet and engage in self-promotion,” said Mr. Udhayanidhi, who, along with other DMK MLAs, wore badges bearing the slogan, “Open your mouth, CM.”

Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat , Mr. Udhayanidhi said during the DMK regime, the Governor often made changes to the address prepared by the government and did not read it in full.

“This time, however, the Governor read out the speech prepared by the government without changing even a single letter. There is an opinion that the government has established a cordial relationship with the BJP,” he said.

He pointed out several issues highlighted in the Governor’s Address — including the establishment of Olympic training centres, opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP), adherence to the two-language policy, the 69% reservation policy, the demand to permit Tamil as a language of pleading in the High Court, and the establishment of a Bench of the Supreme Court in Chennai — had long been demands of the DMK.

“While they have merely affixed their own sticker to the achievements and demands of the DMK, they have attempted to shift the blame for the government’s failure onto the previous DMK government. The Governor’s Address is motivated by hostility towards the DMK administration. We strongly condemn these references,” he said.

Recalling the Chief Minister’s speech at the NITI Aayog meeting last week, Mr. Udhayanidhi said the achievements highlighted there largely belonged to the previous DMK government rather than the one-month-old TVK administration.

“The Governor’s Address is full of contradictions. The government has completed only 38 days in office and has little to showcase as its own achievement. Whatever it claims today are merely extensions of schemes introduced by the DMK government. This is a copy-paste government that survives by putting its own sticker on existing programmes,” he alleged.

Mr. Udhayanidhi said the white paper released by the Finance Minister last week was merely an attempt to create an escape route from implementing the promises made by the Chief Minister during the election campaign.

“Former Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu has raised several pertinent questions about the white paper, but the government has not been able to answer any of them,” he said.

Referring to recent crime statistics, Mr. Udhayanidhi alleged the State had witnessed 175 cases of sexual offences, 65 murders and four honour killings since the new government assumed office.

Mr. Udhayanidhi said while the State was facing thousands of problems, the “virtual abusers of the TVK” were busy producing reels about what the Chief Minister wore and the lunch he brought to the Secretariat.

“Our question to the Chief Minister is simple: When will you open your mouth?” he asked.

He further alleged the Chief Minister continued to speak as though he was still on the campaign trail.

“Not only the Chief Minister, but even Ministers and MLAs seem obsessed with making reels. The Chief Minister appears to be focused only on safeguarding his government,” he said.

Mr. Udhayanidhi also alleged the Chief Minister had resorted to the “panic buying” of AIADMK MLAs to strengthen his government.