NEW DELHI, Feb 18: In yet another showdown between the governor and the CPM-led Left Front government in Kerala, Mr Arif Mohammad Khan on Sunday slammed the state higher education minister R Bindu and accused her of being “totally ignorant” and said she lacked respect towards the court and the law of the land.
“I am not going to respond to criminals. Illegality has happened, and the law will certainly take its course. She (R Bindu) might have said anything. I don’t consider her important enough to respond to her remarks,” he said.
When asked about the incidents at a senate meeting held at the Kerala University, which is presided over by Higher Education Minister R Bindu as Pro-chancellor, Mr Khan said the minister had no authority to do so without his permission.
“Whatever she may say, the only thing I am aware of is that somebody claiming to be the education minister tried to intrude into the meeting of the senate illegally. This is a violation of the law. Senate meetings can be chaired either by the chancellor or by somebody authorized by the chancellor. No other person has the right to preside over it. I promise you that the violation of the law will be taken cognizance of,” Mr Khan said.
Ms Bindu, however, said she did not violate the university rules and as the pro-chancellor, she has the authority to chair the senate meeting, which contradicted the governor’s statement. R Bindu is the Pro-Chancellor of Kerala University, while the Governor is the Chancellor.
Earlier, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had claimed on Saturday that all the protests that were organised by the student wing of the ruling CPI(M) against him were joint ventures of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Popular Front of India (PFI), a banned organisation by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“All these protests against me are not by SFI alone. That is a joint venture of SFI and PFI. I have gotten the report that 12 people have been arrested. They said there were another five, although there were many more. Of these 12 who have been arrested, seven are known PFI volunteers. So this is not just SFI what the government is doing. They are telling the members of a banned organisation that if you join these protests, you do something nasty and then we will protect you. This is an SFI and PFI joint venture. Seven of them belong to the PFI,” he said.
“This government is not only sheltering the PFI members of a banned organisation to create a law-and-order problem in Kerala. And I have already said they are doing these things to provoke me to take some abstract action. But I am not going to oblige them,” Mr Khan alleged. The Students Federation of India (SFI) staged a black flag protest against the Governor on Thursday. The SFI, a student wing of the ruling CPI(M), claimed that the Governor pushed “BJP-RSS nominees” into various universities in Kerala, using his authority as the chancellor of universities in the state.
(Manas Dasgupta)
