Thiruvananthapuram: The draft policy address, prepared by the Kerala government for Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, includes strong criticisms against the central farm laws. The policy address is to be delivered by the Governor as the Kerala Assembly convenes for the Budget session on January 8.
The cabinet has approved the draft policy address. It has also decided to give another recommendation to the Governor to convene a special Assembly session for one hour on December 31 to discuss the farm laws.
This is an indirect response from the government after the Governor denied permission for the Wednesday's Assembly session and shot off a letter to the CM, criticising the government. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan then said the convention was that the Governor accepted the government's decision.
The draft policy address includes criticisms that Centre's amendments to the farm laws were against the farmers in the state. It remains to be seen if the Governor will seek any corrections on this. Even if he does not seek any changes, he can skip reading the anti-Centre remarks. However, even if he does not read certain portions, the Assembly would record that the Governor has read the entire policy address.
The government is now waiting to know if the Governor will seek any revisions in the draft policy address.
Last year, the government had rejected the Governor's demand to remove the remarks against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). However, he read those portions in the Assembly even while stating that he had reservations about these.
Meanwhile, the Kerala CM has said that the government has its reasons for each of the issues flagged by the Governor in the letter.
"The Governor probably made the statements without realising this. He had pointed out that the ward delimitation ordinance was not implemented. The government is also in favour of carrying out the ward delimitation, but this was avoided due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If the steps for ward delimitation were initiated, then the local polls would have been delayed,” the CM explained.
However, the CM rejected the Governor's allegation that certain information was concealed from him. "The government had duly informed him of everything. It is the privilege of the Legislative Assembly to decide on what and all should be discussed at the floor of the House,” he added.
“Withdrawing the government's first recommendation for convening the session on January 8 is just part of the procedures. Decision on two sessions cannot be taken together,” the CM said. He also said the announcement on the 100-day programme would not affect the Governor's policy speech. And that there were several other matters to be declared.
'Governor's action unconstitutional'
During the cabinet meet, the Kerala CM said that the Governor's action of denying permission for the special Assembly session was 'unconstitutional'.
"This is not included in the Governor's discretionary powers. Instead of accepting the decision of the cabinet, the Governor cannot raise questions such as why the assembly should be convened,” he asserted.
The ministers too shared the general sentiment that there was no need to set a wrong precedence. Then it was decided to give another recommendation to convene the special Assembly session on December 31.
After the Assembly passes a resolution against the farm laws on December 31, the cabinet will meet in the evening to accept the recommendation for convening the Budget session. The current decision is to convene the session on January 8. If the dates have to be changed, it would be decided then.
