An act of daredevilry shown as part of a TV commercial comes with a statutory warning: "These stunts are performed by trained professionals, don't try this at home".
A similar warning should be flashed for the Chief Minister and ministers when Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's middle-of-the-road aggression in Thiruvananthapuram city on Monday night is shown on the wide-screen television inside the Nava Kerala bus. "These stunts are performed by combat-ready governors. Don't try this on the street outside the bus".
Imagine Pinarayi Vijayan, impressed by Governor Khan's night-time bravado, summoning up his "old self" and jumping out of the Nava Kerala bus to take on the Youth Congress black flag wavers and shoe throwers. The Youth Congress men would probably flee. But there is also the chance that the Chief Minister could be hit by a shoe or a stone or even a black flag, which could be both dangerous and embarrassing.
Otherwise, it is a non-event. A Chief Minister getting hit by a flying object is not a novelty. It will not create a constitutional crisis either. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, for instance, was hit near his chest by a stone hurled by a DYFI worker. The Chief Minister had to be rushed to a hospital and some DYFI workers were arrested. Nothing else happened.
Throws that were far less dangerous but considerably more embarrassing were made elsewhere in the country. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had a shoe hurled at him in 2011. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, too, had taken a shoe hit in 2017. Union home minister P Chidambaram ducked as a footwear hurled by a journalist marked the descending curve of a parabola dangerously close to him in 2009.
What's more, in 2008, during the time of the Iraq war, a shoe was flung at the most powerful man on earth, the President of the United States. None of these events had changed the course of politics, neither in any of these Indian states nor in the United States.
Point is, that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is doing the right thing by being inside the fortified bus when the Youth Congress workers are baying for his blood on the roads. Anyway, the police and the DYFI workers are doing the 'life-saving act' for him. Therefore, any public display of belligerence that could potentially harm him would be of no use, and can even look silly.
The opposite is the case for the Governor. His act of street smart aggression can potentially create a constitutional crisis for Kerala. What if the Kerala Governor were to be hit by a shoe or stone or, worse still, is slapped? The attack can be interpreted by a Governor waiting for the slightest chance to bait the state government as a breakdown of law and order, one of the four prerequisites for imposing President's rule in a state.
On Monday night, slogan-shouting SFI members banged violently on his car but he was not harmed. Yet, the Governor sounded the first warning. "It is the Chief Minister. He is conspiring, he is sending these people to hurt me physically. And since morning I have been seeing this. The goondas are beginning to take charge of the roads in Thiruvananthapuram. The constitutional machinery seems to be collapsing. Collapse of the constitutional machinery cannot be allowed," he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram just before he got back into his car.
Already, a petition seeking the presidential imposition of financial emergency in the state under Article 360(1) is before the Governor. On top of this is the hint of the President’s rule.
The Youth Congress and KSU members can go on waving black flags at the Chief Minister and the Nava Kerala bus. At the most, their heads would be smashed by helmets or flower pots. But if the SFI or DYFI persist with their black flag protests against the Governor, it is Pinarayi Vijayan who would be in trouble. A battle-ready Governor would only be too happy to get out of his black Mercedes again and again. And each time the Governor gets out of his car, it becomes easier for him to claim a breakdown of law and order.
For Pinarayi Vijayan, restraining the CPM's student and youth wings would be the real life-saving act.
