'Protesters Are SFI At Day And PFI At Night': Arif Mohammad Khan Amid Governor-Government Row (Photo on X @KeralaGovernor)
Amid the intensifying governor-government row, the Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan today alleged that the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) has been used by the state government, saying that the workers who protested against him were SFI in the day and PFI at night. In an interview with NDTV, he further stated that the investigation agencies know that the SFI workers are members of the PFI, which was 2022 banned by the central government.
When asked if the governor has taken the issue with the Ministry of Home Affairs or the central government, the governor said that the agencies are aware of the alleged SFI-PFI connection and claimed that it is a publicly talked about matter among people.
He further said that the protesting SFI members were brought in and they are not students, alleging that the government was organizing the demonstration against him while deploying police to confront them at the same time.
The governor then said that the SFI believes in the legitimacy of violence to achieve political gains and has been frightening the people of Kerala, and not him with their demonstrations.
During the interview, he also raised the issue of the Universities. Yesterday, the governor called the state higher education minister R Bindu “criminal” as the minister chaired a Senate meeting of Kerala University in her capacity as the pro-chancellor.
The governor had attacked the minister calling the act a violation of law, noting that only chancellors or someone that the chancellor authorized can chair the senate meeting. The Kerala University chancellor is the governor.
The governor had called the minister a “”criminal”” when he was asked about the higher education minister’s denial of violations of rules. The governor said that he is not going to respond to the criminals.
However, as the Kerala governor faces black flag protest across the state amid the growing government-governor row, the Union Home Ministry last month provided a Z-plus category security cordon manned by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for the governor. Yet, the governor is facing protests across different parts of the state.
