Chennai: Is addressing a senior member of the House, especially a former Chief Minister, by his name without prefixing the customary title discourteous? The opposition DMK certainly thinks so as it took strong exception to a legislator from the ruling AIADMK calling their veteran party chief M. Karunanidhi by his name in the Assembly on Monday. Amid noisy scenes, the Speaker P. Dhanapal then ruled that the Chief Minister (Ms J. Jayalalithaa) should not be called by her name.
The interesting debate over how to address a former Chief Minister and the current Chief Minister in the Assembly arose when AIADMK’s Tiruttani legislator P. M. Narasimhan, while taking part in the discussion on the revised Budget for 2016–17 fiscal, called the DMK president by his name. At once, the DMK members protested and sought to know from the Speaker P. Dhanapal if it was alright to address a former Chief Minister by his name. Much to their disappointment, Mr. Dhanapal, said there was no problem in calling him by his name.
This led to a ruckus in the House and when the DMK members sought to know if they could address the (present) Chief Minister by her name, the Speaker replied, “No, you cannot call her by her name. This is my order.” At this, the opposition DMK protested once again and staged a walk out after the Speaker remained firm.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the House, Mr M.K. Stalin, DMK treasurer and Leader of the Opposition, who led the walkout, contented that it was wrong to address a former Chief Minister, who had got elected to the House 13 times, by his name. “But the Speaker says it’s alright. And when we asked if we could address the Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa by her name, the Speaker said we cannot do so. Hence, we walked out protesting against the Speaker’s partiality.”
