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Collapse of constitutional machinery in Kerala: Governor Arif Mohammad Khan
Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan said he was ready to faces challenges posed by the ruling Left Democratic Front government, after they announced a protest rally outside the Raj Bhavan on November 15
Amid the growing rift between the state government and Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan, the latter on Monday said the constitutional machinery has collapsed in the southern state and that he was threatened with ‘dire consequences’ for not toeing the “corrupt deals” of the CPI(M) government.
Speaking to reporters in Kochi, Khan said he was ready to faces challenges posed by the ruling Left Democratic Front government, after they announced a protest rally outside the Raj Bhavan on November 15.
“I challenge them to go ahead and barge into Raj Bhavan. And attack me on the road. You cannot intimidate me like this,” the governor said referring to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s claim that Khan will have to face an uprising for his refusal to sign certain bills and issuing show-cause notices to 11 vice-chancellors.
“The CM has gone to the extent of saying that I do not know who he is. Well, I know him as the CM and I also know certain additional things about him. I know in Kannur he tried to free a man who was arrested in a murder case some years ago. When a young IPS officer took out his revolver what happened? He had to go back to his home to change his clothes. I know that,” he said.
A kind of oligarchy prevails in the state and it’s evident from the fact that only people belonging to the CPI(M) are getting government jobs and other postings, the government claimed, adding that the people have started asking whether all government jobs are reserved only for party cadre and university jobs for Communist sympathisers.
Also Read:Kerala: Ruling CPI(M) mounts attack on governor as row escalates
He also referred to the recent letter purportedly written by Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran in which she asked the party district secretary for a list of workers to be appointed in temporary posts in the corporation office.
“I was told that the letter which is being discussed in the press is not the first of its kind. It seems a system of oligarchy prevails here. Young men and women from the state are going to other states for jobs. But the kin of CPI(M) leaders are getting appointed in universities and other government bodies, right from temporary to permanent jobs,” Khan alleged.
In Kochi, before his interaction with the media, he asked two channels – CPI(M)-backed Kairali and Jamate-e-Islami-controlled Media One – to leave, saying that he does not want to talk to “cadre-based media activists”.
The Kerala Union of Working Journalists has condemned the governor’s action, while opposition leader VD Satheesan and CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan also decried the move.
Reacting to Khan’s latest outbursts, Govindan said he was provoking the government without any reason. “Let him talk every day like this. We are not worried because people are with us,” he said.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party said the people have realised what the governor said was absolutely true.
“The governor is being threatened for exposing corrupt deals in varsities. Many government offices have been reduced to party offices now,” said party state president K Surendran.
To counter the CPI(M) protest against the governor, the BJP has announced two-day (November 18-19) explanation meetings throughout the state.
