Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan said he was bidding adieu to Kerala with fond memories and had only “good words for everybody”. File | Photo Credit: PTI
Outgoing Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who often broke the conventionalities of the gubernatorial office by recurrently adopting an arguably combative stance against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, left student unions and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] during his five-year politically tumultuous tenure, left the State on Sunday (December 29, 2024) to assume charge as the new Governor of Bihar.
Mobbed by journalists at the Thiruvananthapuram airport, Mr. Khan refused to stir further controversy by declining to hold forth on why the State government had not accorded him a ceremonial farewell with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his cabinet colleagues and opposition figures in attendance.
Mr. Khan said he was bidding adieu to Kerala with fond memories and had only “good words for everybody”.
Mr. Khan took strong exception to attempts to compare him with his predecessor, P. Sathasivam, who was accorded a stately send-off by the Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2019.
Notably, Mr. Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues had escorted Mr. Sathasivam to the airport. In contrast, only the governor’s security detail and Raj Bhavan staff chaperoned Mr. Khan to the airport.
“It is odious to compare two individuals. Each have their individuality and execute their duties according to their respective convictions”, Mr. Khan said.
On Saturday (December 28, 2024), Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan visited Mr. Khan at the Raj Bhavan and presented him with a memento.
Notably, Mr. Khan’s departure from Kerala was not without political drama. Student Federation of India (SFI) activists, whom he had dared repeatedly, waved farewell to Mr. Khan as his motorcade swept past Pettah junction en route to the airport.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] appeared reluctant to drop its enduring criticism of Mr. Khan even after President Droupadi Murmu announced Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as Kerala’s new governor.
CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan chided the media for “lionising” Mr. Khan’s “unconstitutional actions to implement the Sangh Parivar agenda, especially in the higher education sector”.
Mr. Govindan also reiterated the CPI(M) stance that Mr. Khan had subverted the law-making privileges of the Kerala Legislative Assembly by withholding assent to Bills passed by the Assembly and referring several ones to the President to stall progressive legislation, despite the Supreme Court’s caution.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K. Surendran countered that the CPI(M) malice towards Mr. Khan for upholding the law as the head of State and Chancellor of State-funded varsities appeared unabated even after the latter left office.
Published – December 29, 2024 05:10 pm IST
