Pleasure principle upturned. Governor Khan abides by Pinarayi Govt's pleasure

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Governor Khan's speech was delivered in the defeatist tone of a man who had been told, just before he got up to speak, that all he had stood for in life has been proven wrong. Photo: Manorama.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who has the habit of throwing unpleasant surprises at the Kerala government, did not do an R N Ravi during the Governor's address on Monday. Instead, Khan displayed an old-style ritualistic restraint and decorum that governors combative as Ravi could perhaps emulate.

On January 9, the Tamil Nadu Governor had skipped portions in the policy address that had a mention of Dravidian leaders and Dravidian model of governance and had earned the wrath of Chief Minister M K Stalin.

But Khan, who is as mercurial as Ravi, read out the entire one-hour-fourteen-minute speech prepared for him by the Pinarayi Vijayan Government.

Not a paragraph, sentence, or even a word was left unsaid. Khan's fifth address to the Assembly, therefore, turned out to be the most uneventful.

Last year, when he had nearly refused to make the customary policy address to the Assembly, Khan had skipped the paragraphs that talked highly of the government's interventions in the Higher Education sector.

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Last year, when he had nearly refused to make the customary policy address to the Assembly, Khan had skipped the paragraphs that talked highly of the government's interventions in the Higher Education sector. Photo: PTI.

After having relentlessly shamed the government in public for what he called the rot in the Higher Education sector, it was only expected that Khan would imperiously ignore those portions.

If Pinarayi Vijayan did not have to pass a hasty resolution like Stalin did this January then, it was because the Kerala Assembly accepts only the printed speech as valid.

Governors can skip or add as they please, but these will not find a place in Assembly records.

Compromise formula
Subsequently, the governor-government hostility, especially in matters related to the Higher Education sector, had only worsened in Kerala. Yet, this time Khan did not skip the paragraphs that extol the LDF government for its work in the Higher Education sector.

"Kerala's Higher Education sector has had notable achievements as can be seen from NAAC ranking received by the higher education centres of the State," the Governor said.

And then, perhaps to make such laudatory words palatable for Governor Khan, a sentence that could suggest that all is not well in the sector has been inserted.

"My Government is of the view that much needs to be done, to make Kerala a destination of higher education," the address said.

In none of the earlier speeches that Khan had read out has the government used such a self-deprecatory tone.

Sangh Parivar agent
However, this was the only allowance that the LDF government was willing to grant the Governor. Even if indirectly, the government made the Governor mouth most of its pet charges.

A major charge against Khan was that he was being used to sneak in RSS agenda in universities. To discredit him, Khan was called a tool in the hands of Sangh Parivar forces. This allegation had bothered Khan no end.

A major charge against Khan was that he was being used to sneak in RSS agenda in universities. Photo: Manorama.

Still, without any show of protest, Khan mouthed a line that sounded like a warning to the Governor himself. "My Government is keen that democratic, secular and inclusive nature of our higher education sector is preserved and protected," he said. The LDF charge that the Governor was a Sangh Parivar agent was plainly visible in this line.

Governor ticked off
At certain points in the address, it also sounded as if the Governor himself was being pulled up for his perceived omissions.

"Legislative Assemblies represent the will of the people. The spirit of legislation and the intention of the legislature has to be protected. My Government is committed to the Constitutional value that the intention of the legislature should take effect as law," the speech read.

This was a clear message to the Governor to act within the boundaries set by the Constitution and quickly give his assent to the Bills passed by the Legislature. Some of the major pieces of legislations passed by the LDF Government in 2022, especially amendments to university laws and Lok Ayukta that strip the Governor of his powers and would even rob him of his chancellorship, are gathering dust in the Raj Bhavan.

Centre's villainy
There were liberal attacks on the Centre. The Centre's brand of politics and its fiscal approach were roundly criticised, and the Governor did not demur.

"Hegemonic tendencies in religious, linguistic and other arenas hamper building of a robust democracy, which respects diversity for strengthening its unity," the speech said.

The Governor's speech was also critical of the Centre's attempts to squeeze Kerala dry of funds, and accused the Modi dispensation of double standards.

"Recent measures to curtail the borrowing limits of the States constrain the scope of their interventions in the health, education and infrastructural sectors. While fiscal discipline has to be enforced in right earnest, there cannot be different yardsticks for State Governments, which are not made applicable to the Union Government," the Governor said.

Arif Mohammed Khan goes ‘missing’
It almost felt like there was no fight left in the Governor. This policy address will qualify as the dullest one he had delivered.

In his earlier four addresses, there was a certain vigour and aggression, and even an attempt to reach out to the Kerala public, like the occasional sentences in broken but charming Malayalam.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan
Khan had refused last year to give his assent to the policy address even after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan talked to him in person. Photo: Manorama.

But this one was delivered in the defeatist tone of a man who had been told, just before he got up to speak, that all he had stood for in life has been proven wrong.

It was only last year that Khan's brinkmanship had rattled the LDF Government. 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.

He relented only after the officer who had served him the letter was removed from the post.

Former pugilist
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 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.

Happy hours
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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