Why this year's Governor's address in Kerala Assembly will go down in history as grumpiest ever

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

The constitutionally untenable situation of the Governor refusing to read out the customary policy address of the government did not happen. What instead happened on Friday was perhaps the most grumpy policy address ever in the history of Kerala Assembly. Everyone in the House was sulking and angry.

Governor Arif Mohammed sounded irritated. He did not even bother with speaking a few lines in Malayalam as he usually does when he is upbeat. The Opposition junked etiquettes long established for the day and shouted 'go back' at the Governor. Arif Mohammed Khan's irritation was evident in the way he reprimanded Opposition leader V D Satheesan. “You are a responsible person, you are the opposition leader of this House,” he said, as though asking him to rise up to his position.

The Governor, however, could not have responded to the ruling front's show of displeasure. The ruling bench MLAs sat thunderingly silent. They did not even thump the desks, as is customary, when the Governor listed out the government's major achievements.

The ruling members might not have walked out like the opposition, but the way they sat, apparently impervious to the laudatory sentences in the policy address, it seemed they had turned their back on the Governor. This could also have been LDF's way of countering the UDF charge that the Governor and the government were thick as thieves though they put on a show of animosity in public.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan delivers policy address in Kerala Assembly

Khan's brinkmanship

Nonetheless, there is a feeling that the LDF Government was badly rattled by the brinkmanship displayed by the Governor on the eve of the policy address. Khan had refused to give his assent to the policy address even after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan talked to him in person. The Governor was miffed that he was officially served a "letter of insult" for appointing a "person of his choice" as his additional personal assistant.

The general administration principal secretary, K R Jyothilalal, in a missive shot to the Governor's office on February 14, said that the decision to appoint a party member in the Governor's staff was against established conventions.

Enraged, the Governor blurted out against what he termed the improper appointments to the personal staff of ministers and, when the time came, refused to touch the Governor's address. Eventually, the government decided to remove Jyothilal from the General Administration Department, and as a kind of bonus, created a permanent post of a photographer in the Governor's secretariat. The Governor assented, and the officials scampered to get the policy address printed on time.

The Opposition UDF boycotted the customary Governor's address that marks the start of the annual Budget session of 15th Kerala Assembly on February 18, 2022. Photo: MANOJ CHEMANCHERI/ Manorama

Bypassing 'higher education'

Governor Khan, except for the initial show of irritation, was matter of fact. He read out what was written for him, including the paragraphs questioning the Centre's anti-state policies and farm laws. He skipped the latter portions but that is something governors normally do to save time. This time, therefore, Khan could finish his address in just over an hour. Otherwise, it would have gone on for another half an hour at least.

That the skipped portions included references about the achievements of the Higher Education sector could perhaps have been just a coincidence. It was the running of the universities that had worsened Governor-Government ties. The Governor had alleged political interference in university affairs, bemoaned that nepotism was unbearable and had even threatened to relinquish his role as chancellor.

By skipping the part about Higher Education in the policy address, the Governor has, perhaps without intending to, saved himself the embarrassment of having to say good things about the LDF's Higher Education policy.

Governor Arif Mohammad Khan delivers policy address during Budget Session of 15th Kerala Assembly on February 18, 2022. Photo: MANOJ CHEMANCHERI/ Manorama

Khan's maverick ways

The policy address has been a fraught affair ever since Arif Mohammed Khan took over as Governor. In 2020, for instance, anticipating that Khan could embarrass the government, the Chief Minister had to even issue him a 'code of conduct'. “It is requested that the address approved by the council of ministers be read in its entirety sans any additions or deletions,” the communication said.

The Governor rebelled in a manner that was then considered cheeky. During his address on January 29, 2020, when he came to the paragraph dealing with the Citizenship Amendment Act, Khan said: "I have been corresponding with the honorable Chief Minister for the last few days. I have my reservations. But I am going to read this para because the honorable Chief Minister wants me to read this, although I hold the view that this does not come under the definition of policy or programme."

Earlier that year, the Governor had ridiculed the government's decision to convene a special session on December 31, 2020, to pass a resolution on the three controversial farm bills against which farmers were protesting in Delhi. He said the Kerala Government had no jurisdiction to settle the grievances of farmers. Later, when the government insisted, Khan had to accede.

No trouble policy speech

However, during the policy address in 2021, when the Government-Governor equation seemed fairly stable, the Governor had read out, without omitting a word, the government's criticism of the farm bills.

Few months later on May 28, there was the second policy address of the year after the second Pinarayi Ministry took over, Khan's third address. Of all the policy addresses, this would have been the address Khan would have enjoyed reading the most. It did not have the usual anti-Centre belligerence of an LDF dispensation. Nothing that would have disturbed the Centre, and its nominee in the Raj Bhavan, were included in the speech.

 

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