Governor insulted nation by boycotting national anthem: Speaker Appavu

Assembly Speaker M. Appavu on Monday said Governor R.N. “The tradition so far has been that if the Governor comes to the Assembly to deliver a speech, he would remain there till the end, and rise when the national anthem is sung,” Mr. Appavu said, while addressing the media. The prepared speech of the Governor was sent to him on January 5, and it was accepted on January 7, Mr. Appavu said, adding, “As you may have noticed, the Governor left out many parts of the speech, and also included some fresh parts.” When asked whether the Raj Bhavan insisted on any changes to the prepared speech, the Speaker said, “The speech was prepared by the government, and was accepted only because no change was needed. If a change was needed, they should have made a request and the government would have acted on it.” Pointing out that Articles 175 and 176 of the Constitution provided for the right of the Governor to deliver his speech in the State Legislature, Mr. Appavu said Dr. Ambedkar was the head of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution. To a query whether the Governor had powers to cancel the resolution adopted in the House, Mr. Appavu said, “How can anything be done like that?