CHENNAI: Pongal, the annual religion-neutral harvest festival celebrated by people of all religions in the state, also panned out to be an occasion for an ideological confrontation between Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Governor after differences erupted over interpretation of Poet Thiruvalluvar.
Governor R N Ravi set the tone for the fresh face-off when he described Thiruvalluvar as “the brightest saint of the Bharatiya Sanatan tradition” in his Thiruvalluvar Day message posted on the official handle of the Raj Bhavan of Tamil Nadu. The Governor’s message also had a representative image of Thiruvallur where he was seen sporting saffron, instead of the usual white seen in the ‘official’ image of the Tamil Nadu government, and also ‘Rudhraksh’ and “Vibuthi” (Holy ashes on the forehead and biceps).