Guv Khan confronts SFI activists in Kollam; ends street-side sit-in only after filing of FIR

Kollam: In yet another instance of unprecedented gubernatorial behaviour, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Saturday not just stormed out of his official vehicle but also staged a street-side sit-in demanding stringent action against SFI activists who raised banners and slogans against him at Nilamel, the northern end of Thiruvananthapuram district bordering Kollam.

Khan left the roadside tea shop after an hour when the police registered a case against the protesters. "I am not upset about the black flag protest. But I was worried when they hit my vehicle," he said. 

The Governor was on his way to Kottarakkara to inaugurate the centenary of an ashram when SFI activists of Nilamel College thronged the roadside and shouted slogans. Eyewitness accounts say that the protesters attempted to go near the Governor's cavalcade. However, the policemen on duty were also trying their best to push the students back to the shoulder of the road.

However, the Governor looked so provoked that he got out of the car and marched towards the policemen. Pointing fingers furiously at the policemen, Governor Khan told them that they were the ones offering protection to the SFI activists.

His anger not satiated he charged straight at the protesting students, gesticulating and shouting at them as if challenging them for a physical fight. The police had a tough time reining in the students.

The Governor was fuming even after the students were cleared. Hinting that he was in for a long haul protest, Khan placed himself in front of a tea shop and said he would not budge until action was taken. The police tried to placate him saying 12 students were arrested. He said there were more than 50 students and wanted cases clamped on all of them.

It was the police that bore the brunt of the Governor's fury. "If the police are the ones breaking the law, who is going to uphold the law," he asked the policemen trying to placate him. He also wanted to know whether this was how the police would have protected the Chief Minister. The Governor had repeatedly stated that there was a conspiracy at the behest of the Chief Minister to harm him.

He was also heard shouting at his aides to call the secretary of Amit Shah (Union Home Minister). A moment later, after he was perhaps told that the call did not go through, he wanted the Prime Minister's office on the line.

The Governor first barged out of his vehicle last December. Then, some SFI activists had jumped before his vehicle on his way to the airport in Thiruvananthapuram. He had then resumed his journey after rebuking the police and calling the SFI protesters "goons" and "criminals".

Later, the SFI had mounted protests at the Calicut University and the Governor, in response, made an impromptu visit to the Mittai Theruvu in Kozhikode, walking right through the street meeting people, greeting them, taking selfies with them and tasting sweets offered by them. This year the SFI had staged protests during the Governor's visit to Idukki and Palakkad. The SFI had waged war against the Governor after he included what the Left students' wing alleged were Sangh Parivar nominees in the senates of Kerala and Calicut Universities.

On Thursday, Khan in an unusual move had read out only the concluding paragraph of the government's customary policy address in the Assembly. During the Republic Day celebrations at the Central Stadium in the state capital, Khan and Vijayan were seen ignoring each other, even though they were sitting side-by-side. neither Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues nor LDF MLAs turned up for the 'at home' event hosted at the Raj Bhavan on Friday evening.

The Governor and the Left government have been at loggerheads over several issues, primarily about the functioning of universities in the state and his non-signing of certain bills passed by the Assembly. It also resulted in his facing widespread protests across the state from the CPM, its youth wing -- Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) -- and its student outfit -- Students Federation of India (SFI).