The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies on Monday held a protest against Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi as he began his customary address at the start of the Assembly session, ANI reported.

Legislators from the DMK, Congress and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi shouted slogans against against Ravi for his remarks that “Tamizhagam” would be a more appropriate name for the state than Tamil Nadu.

The word “Nadu” means land but is also at times interpreted as country or nation-state. “Tamizhagam” means a region inhabited by the Tamils.

DMK MLAs on Monday shouted slogans demanding that the governor does not impose the ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the state. Meanwhile, Congress and VCK legislators shouted slogans hailing Tamil Nadu, The Hindu reported.

Subsequently, Congress and VCK MLAs walked out of the Assembly.

The DMK and its allies also alleged that Ravi skipped parts of the speech prepared by the state government which referred to secularism and also to leaders such as Periyar, BR Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, CN Annadurai, and M Karunanidhi, NDTV reported. They also said that the governor added some portions to the speech that had not been prepared by the government.

Chief Minister MK Stalin subsequently asked the Speaker to only to take on record the speech that was prepared by the state government. Ravi then staged a walkout, reported NDTV.

DMK spokesperson Salem Dharanidharan accused Ravi of behaving like a BJP spokesperson.

“The deviation of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, from the constitutional norms, by omitting certain important contents from his speech, at Tamil Nadu assembly, today, makes it profoundly clear that this governor has political agenda and is more of a TN BJP Spokesperson / politician,” he said on Twitter.

In recent months, Ravi has made several comments about Dravidian culture and politics in the state, resulting in backlash from the DMK.

At an event at the Raj Bhavan, he had said that a narrative had been created in the state according to which Tamil Nadu would reject everything that was applicable for the rest of the country, The Indian Express.

“It has become a habit,” he had said. “So many theses have been written – all false and poor fiction. This must be broken. Truth must prevail. Tamizhagam is a more appropriate word to call it. The rest of the country suffered a lot of devastation at the hands of foreigners for a long time.”

On this, the DMK, in an article in its mouthpiece Murasoli, asked whether the name Rajasthan sounded like Pakistan or Afghanistan to the governor. “Isn’t Maharashtra a secessionist name for its name indicates the land of Marathas?” the article asked.

However, the BJP state president K Annamalai accused the DMK of wanting to bury its “sececcionist past”, according to The Indian Express.