CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly's 2026 inaugural session started with walk outs first by Governor and later by the opposition AIADMK, BJP, and PMK.

The opposition walk out came after Speaker M Appavu refused permission for a discussion on law and order, prompting Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami to demand Chief Minister MK Stalin’s resignation and accuse the DMK government of statewide administrative failure.

The session began tumultuously as Governor RN Ravi walked out after his demand to play the National Anthem following the Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu was rejected. He left without delivering his customary address. Chief Minister Stalin later moved a resolution, passed by the ruling alliance, to treat the English text of the undelivered address as official.

However, the core confrontation erupted when Palaniswami sought to debate the law and order situation. Denied by the Speaker, he led his AIADMK MLAs out of the House, joined by allies from the BJP and PMK, raising slogans against the government’s "refusal to allow debate on people's issues."

Addressing the media afterward, Palaniswami cited the Governor's address document to outline a litany of failures. He highlighted that MoUs worth Rs12 lakh crore remained unimplemented, causing Tamil Nadu’s industrial investment rank to slip from 4th to 6th.

Citing the address, he presented grim statistics: a 33% rise in sexual harassment cases, 55% of POCSO cases involving minor victims, about 2,000 drug abuse-linked suicides, and a surge in atrocities against Scheduled Castes. He noted that nearly 20,000 suicides in a year made Tamil Nadu the "suicide capital of India."

Palaniswami also pointed to vacancies in educational institutions and widespread protests by government employees. "During AIADMK rule, law and order was firmly maintained. Under DMK rule, it has completely collapsed," he asserted, concluding that the DMK’s refusal to act warranted the Chief Minister's resignation.