Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan’s reprimand The opposition to the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its office bearers, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, marks an escalating tension between them and the elected government. Till now, Mr. Khan and Mr. Vijayan had maintained a functional relationship despite their apparent differences. Kannur University’s controversial decision to appoint the wife of Mr Vijayan’s private secretary as associate professor is at the center of the current flare-up. Mr Khan, who is also the university’s chancellor, has been critical of the move, but his decision to hold a full-fledged press conference crossed a threshold and damaged the glory of his office. In the press, Mr Khan attacked CPI(M) functionaries and termed some of their actions as anti-national, nepotism and anti-social. As an unelected appointment of the Centre, the governor of a state is expected to appreciate the popular mandate of the elected government. By going public with his views, Mr. Khan has created a situation that should have been avoided. The CPI(M) and other parties in the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by Mr. Vijayan have changed the governor’s sentiments, making the exchange a nasty affair. Among other things, representatives of the ruling front have called Mr Khan an unbroken agent of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Mr Khan could have raised his concerns with Mr Vijayan, however reasonable he considered them, rather than triggering an entirely avoidable public controversy.
The unprecedented public criticism of Mr Khan’s elected government is inconsistent with the high office he holds, but the issues he has raised have put the ruling front on the defensive. One can debate whether the governor is mandated to enforce standards of governance, but Mr Khan is clearly not restrained. He had raged on the practice of state pension for political appointees, who serve as personal staff of ministers for 30 months. Mr Khan has now locked horns with the LDF over questions of governance relating to universities and the crippling anti-corruption Lokayukta, which could lose its powers to punish the state assembly. The Governor has made it clear that he will not sign two Acts, one on higher education and one on Lokayukta. Despite the legislature’s powers to make such laws, the moral case for doing so remains a tough one. Electoral majority is the foundation of representative democracy, but institutional checks and balances are also integral to it. Both the elected government and the governor should step down, and discuss these questions in a calm manner with the aim of finding solutions and furthering the development of the state.