Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan has demanded the resignation of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.
He alleged Mr. Khan acted as an adversary of the people. Mr. Govindan said Mr. Khan subverted the Supreme Court order faulting the Governor for inordinately withholding assent to laws passed by the State legislature.
He accused Mr. Khan of “circumventing” the damning Supreme Court order by hastily reserving seven Bills for presidential consideration on the eve of the court’s judgment.
Mr. Govindan termed Mr. Khan’s “forestalling action” as “deviously anti-democratic and patently contemptuous” of the apex court. He also accused Mr. Khan of challenging the Supreme Court by claiming that only the President could hold Governors to account and that they had legal immunity.
Mr. Govindan argued that public resentment against Mr. Khan was brewing. He warned of mammoth agitations if Mr. Khan did not quit office. “Currently, the law sets no timeline for the Governor to sign Bills into law. Mr. Khan had exploited the loophole to veto laws passed by the State legislature. He had defeated the rights of the people,” Mr. Govindan alleged.
He said Kerala moved the Supreme Court to rectify the legal anomaly that gave latitude to Governors to avoid signing Bills for protracted periods.
Mr. Govindan accused Mr. Khan of acting as the Sangh Parivar’s catspaw. He said Mr. Khan conspired with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government to thwart the State’s plea against the Kerala Governor’s “disruptive approach to State legislations”.
“When the machinations failed, Mr. Khan sent the Bills to the President at the last minute. The disruptive action that stonewalled government functioning was unbecoming of the titular head of State. He should abdicate his high office and join Sangh Parivar politics,” Mr. Govindan said.
Mr. Govindan said Mr. Khan introduced a political synergy between the Congress and the BJP in Kerala to undermine the Left Democratic Front government.
For one, the Governor had bypassed the Vice-Chancellor’s panel. He placed Congress and BJP persons on the Calicut University Senate. He said the apex court verdict quashing Gopinath Ravindran’s reappointment was more of an adverse judgment against Mr. Khan than the government.
Mr. Govindan said Mr. Khan’s questionable deposition in the Supreme Court that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Higher Education Minister R. Bindu had kickstarted the reappointment process caused the apex court to conclude that “unwarranted interference” by the administration had vitiated the reappointment.
