The appointment of Arif Mohammed Khan as the Bihar Governor marks the end of his tumultuous tenure in the Kerala Raj Bhavan. Khan, who was appointed by the BJP-ruled Centre as the Kerala Governor in September 2019, had a running feud with the CPI(M)-led state government right from the outset.
Rajendra Arlekar, who was previously the Bihar Governor, has now been transferred to the Kerala Raj Bhavan.
In Kerala, the tension between Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan government first flared over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Khan extended support to the CAA enacted in December 2019, saying that “it was his constitutional duty to defend it”.
At an event at the University of Kannur in the same month in 2019, Khan iterated his support for the legislation. This drew protests from the ruling Left as well as the principal Opposition Congress.
The Governor was also against the Assembly’s resolution that demanded that the Centre revoke the CAA. This irked the Left, which was already campaigning against the central legislation.
However, it was Khan’s interventions in the higher education sector, particularly in university appointments, that turned into flashpoints between him and the Vijayan government.
The Left dispensation projected Khan as an “agent deputed by RSS to saffronise the state’s higher education sector”.
Because of his office, the Governor of a state also acts as the Chancellor of its universities, who appoints their vice-chancellors after setting up a search committee and recommending a panel of names.
One of the first battlegrounds between Khan and the Vijayan turned out to be the University of Kannur. After his statement on CAA triggered backlash, Khan blamed then Kannur varsity V-C Dr Gopinath Ravindran and CM Vijayan’s private secretary K K Ragesh for being allegedly behind the protests against him.
Khan alleged that they had “conspired” and organised the protests and prevented the police from acting against the agitators. Khan later stayed the appointment of Priya Varghese, the wife of Ragesh, as an associate professor in Kannur University.
The re-appointment of Ravindran as the Kannur varsity V-C in November 2021 was another point of discord between the Raj Bhavan and the state government.
Around the same time, Khan had threatened to quit as the Chancellor of universities, suggesting that he was “under pressure to violate laid-down procedures and norms in appointments in universities”.
The Kannur University row had been one of the reasons that prompted the
CPI(M)-led LDF government to pass three Bills in 2023 in order to curtail the powers of the Governor as the Chancellor. These Bills related to the higher education sector were among the eight Bills passed by the state Assembly in 2022 and 2023.
Khan did not give his consent to any of the Bills or refer them to the President. In November 2023, the Vijayan government moved the Supreme Court against the Governor, highlighting the Raj Bhavan’s delay in clearing the Bills passed by the Assembly.
The Supreme Court later observed that the Governors could not “thwart the normal course of lawmaking”. Following this, Khan gave assent to one Bill and sent the remaining seven for the Presidential assent.
Earlier, in October 2022, the apex court had held that the appointment of Dr M S Rajasree as the V-C of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University was “illegal’’ and “void ab initio” as it flouted the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms.
After this, Khan sought the resignations of VCs of nine universities in the state. This led to legal battles involving the Raj Bhavan, state government, UGC and aggrieved V-Cs. Khan also locked horns with the LDF government over the formation of the committees for the selection of V-Cs.
In early 2023, the Left’s protests against Khan had spilled on to the streets. This was after Khan had nominated members affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’ student wing, to the senates of two universities – the University of Kerala and the University of Calicut.
Khan had alleged that CM Vijayan had sent goons to physically hurt him. Later, the Union Home Ministry extended Z-plus security cover for the Governor.
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