A Governor gone too political, too far

The relations between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the LDF government of Pinarayi Vijayan have so deteriorated that there is almost a daily exchange of accusations and recriminations, warnings, and even personal attacks. They have been at odds with each other for a long time and differences have been aired in public in the past too. But the spat has now turned into unseemly confrontations, with an unmistakable political dimension to it. In an unprecedented action, Khan called a media conference at Raj Bhavan and levelled serious charges against the government and the Chief Minister. Vijayan held a media conference the next day to reply to him. There are references to past actions, letters and meetings in the exchanges, with both berating the other, and the Governor trying to escalate the situation.

The Governor has highlighted some issues of contention with the government, on which, however, his positions do not seem to be very convincing. He has said that he was heckled over his speech at the Indian History Congress at Kannur in 2019. He has described it as an attempt to murder him and went to the extent of saying that the octogenarian historian Irfan Habib, who was present there, had a role in it. He has charged that the government did not take any action on that. The video clips of the event he presented at his press conference, however, did not show any murder attempt. He has said that the extension of tenure of Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran was wrong. He had himself approved it but now he says that he did so under pressure. He has also said that he would not give his assent to some bills which have been forwarded to him. He visited RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at a pracharak’s house earlier this week, raising questions of propriety.

The Governor has made outlandish statements and untenable demands. His conduct and statements have given the clear impression that he is inventing newer and newer issues to raise the pitch of the confrontation. If he has differences with the government, they should be taken up in established ways, not in public so as only to run the government down. It is his government, and he has to respect the mandate of the elected government. He says that as Governor he has to protect and defend the Constitution, but he is following not the Constitution but the playbook of Governors in other non-BJP states who are working as political agents of the central government. He has no powers to interfere in matters of governance in the way he is doing now.