THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday flaunted his RSS leanings and asserted that he would not sign the controversial bills passed by the state assembly, further scaling up the confrontation with the state government.
Addressing a press conference, Khan made no bones about his close association with the RSS. Asked about his recent meeting with RSS supremo, the governor said he visited Mohan Bhagwat to “wish him well” and there was nothing unusual about it.
He added that his association with the Sangh Parivar fountainhead dates back to 1986. “Do you think RSS is a banned organisation? Why did Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru invite RSS to participate in the Republic Day parade?” he retorted.
On the controversial bills, Khan said attempts by the government to exert pressure on him to sign them will not succeed. “Why are they exerting this pressure? So that I sign the university and Lok Ayukta bills? There is no way I will compromise,” he said.
However, the governor failed to live up to the build-up he himself created ahead of the press meet he convened, ignoring all conventions, to mount a no-holds barred attack on the LDF government. The ‘evidence’ Khan said he would produce against the government turned out to be what was already available in the public domain. All through the press conference, he repeated what he had been telling reporters for the past few weeks.
‘CM’s private secy was part of conspiracy’
Khan alleged that the CM’s private secretary, K K Ragesh, was part of a conspiracy to intimidate him at the inaugural function of the 2019 Indian History Congress in Kannur University. He wondered whether Ragesh was given the prized position at the CMO as a “reward” for preventing the police from acting against the protesters. Visuals of the protests during the 2019 event, which TV channels had aired earlier, were played during the press conference to show Ragesh’s involvement.
However, he went on the defensive when pointed out that the visuals did not prove that Ragesh dissuaded police from arresting protesters. “You may not see anything that you do not wish to see,” he shot back.
The governor said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had called on him at the Raj Bhavan and requested that Gopinath Ravindran, who hails from his home district Kannur, be reappointed VC of Kannur University. He produced letters that were written by the CM assuring that the government will not interfere in the functioning of varsities and alleged that Pinarayi had gone back on his assurance. However, the letters that Khan produced at the news conference as “evidence” were leaked to the media months ago during the height of the conflict between the governor and the state government over university appointments.
KANNUR: Hours after Governor Arif Mohammed Khan proclaimed his close ties with the RSS, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched a scathing attack on him for his “subservience” to the Sangh Parivar, and candidly told him to be cautious while using words.
The governor’s is a constitutional post and he should not become the symbol of anti-communism while remaining in office, Pinarayi said, addressing a function in Kannur on Monday. “Arif Mohammed Khan as an individual may have political leanings, but expressing opinions in his individual capacity is not the same while doing so as the governor,” he said.
Khan is contemptuous of the ideologies that have come from abroad, but he has no qualms about praising the RSS more passionately than its own workers, Pinarayi said. The RSS inherited its ideology and organisational structure directly from the Nazis in Germany under Hitler, he said.
“The idea of internal enemies cannot be found in the Indian culture. It was Hitler who declared Jews and communists as the enemies from within...And the idea was replicated by the RSS in India,” he said.“If the Governor does not like ideologies that came from outside, he should be forced to discard the idea of democracy and parliamentary system,” Pinarayi said. Recalling the RSS’ ‘atrocities’ against the minorities in various parts of the country, the CM said the incidents had created an atmosphere of fear in the society.
Cong can’t counter threat from BJP: CM
Pinarayi asserted that the Congress, which boasts of secular credentials, cannot effectively counter the threat from the BJP. Many Congress leaders including former chief ministers are now in the BJP. “It is at this time Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is taking out a yathra in Kerala to take on the left parties... What prevents the Congress leaders from speaking against the BJP,” he asked.
Only a common platform of regional forces can successfully counter the BJP. Chandrasekhar Rao in Telangana has taken a stand against the BJP earlier and now things are changing in Bihar too. “There is a new awakening against the BJP in the country and other deliberations can take place after the elections,” Pinarayi said.