Kerala governor flays Centre in policy address; Government-governor differences did not reflect

Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan flayed the Centre for curtailing the borrowing limits of states and also accused it of restricting freedom of the press.

In the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government's policy address delivered in the Assembly on Monday, Khan said that constitutional values were presently facing many challenges. "Hegemonic tendencies in religious, linguistic and other arenas hamper building of a robust democracy, which respects diversity for strengthening its unity," he said.

The remark in the governor's policy address accusing the centre for curtailing freedom of press came amid the row over the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Freedom of the press is a cardinal feature of every strong democratic society. Free and fair media activities are to be protected. Some instances of curtailing the freedom of the press in different ways are coming up in some parts of the country. My government is always committed to protect the freedom of press," said Khan.

The policy address accused the centre of curtailing borrowing limits of state and applying different yardsticks for the state governments and centre in fiscal discipline.

Govt-governor differences did not reflect

Khan's policy address assumed significance as strong differences between the governor and government was prevailing in Kerala for quite some time. Hence there were speculations that the governor may express his differences while delivering the speech.

While the governor was yet to clear couple of controversial legislations passed by the Assembly several months back, he said in the policy address that legislative assemblies represented the will of the people and the spirit of legislation and the intention of the legislature has to be protected. "The government is committed to the constitutional value that the intention of the legislature should take effect as law," he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front alleged that the policy address was one of the worst in Kerala's history as it was an attempt to cover up the poor law order situation in the state.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan ridiculed that the CPM government was accusing the centre over curtailing freedom of press, when it is curbing entry of accredited journalists to government secretariat in the state.

Satheesan said while serious lapses on the police as well as nexus of police officials with anti-social elements were coming out, the Governor termed the state police as one of the best. Many projects announced by the first Pinarayi Vijayan government were still being repeated in the policy address, he said.