Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan appeared to throw down the gauntlet to Students’ Federation of India (SFI) activists protesting against his impending arrival at the Calicut University campus on December 16 (Saturday) evening for a two-night stay.
Speaking to journalists in New Delhi, Mr. Khan said he would confront SFI activists if they attempted to block his car. “They should hit me and not my vehicle”, he said.
Poised for showdown
The SFI also seemed poised for a showdown with the Governor. The students’ organisation has strung black banners on the campus announcing that the Chancellor was not “welcome here” and demanding that he “go back.
The SFI said the demonstrations against the Chancellor would be “a democratic exercise of dissent” with Mr. Khan’s alleged attempt to stack the Senates of the Kerala and the Calicut varsities with Sangh Parivar nominees. The SFI activists would not block his car. The activists would merely wave black flags and raise slogans, it said.
Heavy security
Meanwhile, the State police have brought the campus under a heavy security cover. Mr. Khan has announced his stay at the Calicut University guest house on Saturday and Sunday night to attend a seminar organised by the varsity’s Sanatana Dharma Chair.
“They (SFI) said they would not allow me to stay in the government guest house. So, I decided to take my protest to them by staying on the varsity campus. I am living on borrowed time. I have passed the national life expectancy average. I have survived five attempts to harm me. I am not easily scared by bullies and goons. They have no strength of conviction, and bullies run away at the slightest hint of resistance”, Mr. Khan said.
He added that SFI activists had the right to wave black flags or protest within the bounds of law. “Will the police allow anybody to waylay and attack the Chief Minister’s car as they (SFI) did to my motorcade in Thiruvananthapuram?” Mr. Khan asked.
On December 11, Mr. Khan, not always a stickler for conventionalities, had stepped out of his car and confronted SFI activists who mobbed and allegedly damaged his official vehicle. Later, the police booked several SFI activists on charges of damaging public property and attempting to assault a Constitutional authority.
A dichotomy: Opposition Leader
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan told reporters in Kozhikode that he saw a dichotomy between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s defence of SFI activists who tried to waylay the Governor and the latter’s encouragement of DYFI workers attacking Congress’s black flag demonstrators.
Mr. Satheesan said the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) vehemently opposed the Chancellor’s bid to stack Senates of State-funded varsities with Sangh Parivar nominees.
He alleged that Mr. Vijayan had paved the way for the contentious appointments by legitimising Mr. Khan’s appointment of an RSS leader as an advisor in Raj Bhavan.
Mr. Satheesan said the Governor and the Chief Minister share a symbiotic association. They were shadowboxing to divert public attention from various issues of their respective making. The SFI contributed to the absurd political drama by announcing a farcical protest against Mr. Khan, he said.
“Both Mr. Khan and Mr. Vijayan are taking the public for a ride by posing as imaginary opponents”, Mr. Satheesan said.
