LDF to launch massive public offensive against Guv, to consider abolition of Chancellor post

The LDF has decided to go on a massive offensive against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan who had recently even threatened to "withdraw his pleasure" in the council of ministers.

The anti-Governor offensive will culminate in a protest gathering in front of the Raj Bhavan on November 15, a gathering that CPI secretary Kanam Rajendran said "would be the biggest protest gathering in the history of Kerala".

CPM state secretary M V Govindan said senior leaders, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, will be part of the Raj Bhavan rally.

However, the CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said whether the Chief Minister should participate had not yet been decided.

The blueprint for the anti-Governor agitation was drawn up at the LDF meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

The meeting has also decided to seriously consider the possibility of abolishing the post of the Chancellor. Giovindan and Kanam jointly addressed the media.

A series of protest events will lead up to the climactic Raj Bhavan protest.

On November 2, a state-level convention will be held in Thiruvananthapuram. It will have broad-based participation, of education experts, academicians, social activists and political leaders.

"The idea is to forge the widest possible and effective resistance front against the Governor's attempt to implement the Sangh Parivar agenda in the Higher Education sector," M V Govindan said.

Simultaneously, district-level and campus-level conventions will also be held. Govindan said that the district conventions would be completed by November 10 and campus conventions by November 12.

The LDF declaration of an open war against the Governor comes a day after Arif Mohammed Khan said that he would convey his displeasure with finance minister K N Balagopal and law minister P Rajeeve to the Chief Minister.

Rajeeve had said that the Governor's actions would be reviewed. Balagopal, on his part, wondered whether Khan, an Uttar Pradesh native, could understand the education system in Kerala.

Khan called the ministers "ignorant". Khan's contention is that ministers could hold office only as long as the Governor pleases.

The LDF leaders have ridiculed the Governor's remark. "Any one who has read the Constitution will not take such comments seriously," Kanam said.

This step up in the political offensive also happens at a time when the Governor seems to have gained a slight edge in his protracted standoff with the government. The Supreme Court had recently nullified the appointment of M S Rajasree as the VC of A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University, triggering concerns that the Governor would use the verdict to call into question the appointments of VCs in various other universities.

The LDF's war cry is clear: the Governor is functioning as the agent of the Sangh Parivar.

"Knowing fully well that they cannot electorally triumph in Kerala, the Sangh Parivar is using governors to undermine the secular character of high education institutions in the country," Govindan said.

He said the Kerala Governor's decision to remove Senate members even without issuing them a show cause notice was a sly attempt to squeeze in RSS-minded people into the Senate.

The CPM state secretary said that the Governor calling VCs ' criminals' was a grave matter. "His policy of constantly threatening the VCs is an insult to the post of the Chancellor," Govindan said.