'Should Have Been Kept in Loop': Kerala Governor Slams Pinarayi Vijayan Govt for Anti-CAA Suit in SC

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, who has been at odds with the Pinarayi Vijayan government over the new citizenship law, on Thursday hit out at the state over its decision to file a suit in the Supreme Court against the contentious legislation.

Calling it a breach of protocol, Khan said: “I'm not saying that what they did is wrong. They may have every right to approach the SC but common courtesy demanded that prior permission be taken from me. At least I should have been kept in the loop.”

He added, “The constitutional head of the state is getting to know through newspapers that the state government is challenging a law passed by Parliament. I will check if the state can do this without permission from the Governor.”

Reacting to Khan’s statement, CPM member S Ramachandran Pillai said: “This statement shows unnecessary interference into the internal matters of the Kerala government.”

“Khan is violating democratic traditions and constitutional provisions. The state government is empowered to approach SC and there is no need to get his approval. My appeal to him is he should study the Constitution, study the precedents and act on the basis of that,” he said.

Pillai added: “Some of the statements don’t actually merit any reply from the government. Look at the governor in West Bengal, Maharashtra. This present governor is also trying to imitate them.”

Kerala on Tuesday became the first state to challenge the amended citizenship law after the government filed a suit in the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to declare the contentious legislation unconstitutional.

The Kerala Assembly had in December passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act, asking the Centre to cancel the contentious legislation that has triggered countrywide protests. The resolution was supported by all the MLAs except BJP's O Rajagopal.

The resolution was moved by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has accused the BJP government of executing the RSS agenda of dividing the nation on communal lines by passing the Act.

“I want to make it clear that no detention centres will come up in Kerala. Kerala has a long history of secularism, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, everyone reached our land. Christians and Muslims reached Kerala in the very beginning. Our tradition is of inclusiveness. Our assembly needs to keep the tradition alive,” he had said.

Calling the implementation of CAA a “violation of the fundamental right of equality”, the Kerala CM had said, “The CAA 2019 passed by both houses of the Parliament has created concern among various communities, there has also been state wide protest against the same. In Kerala there has been a peaceful and untied agitation in general (against the CAA).

“The Act, which has set new guidelines for granting citizenship, is a violation of the fundamental right of equality as mentioned in the part III of the Constitution.”

A day after the Citizenship Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, Vijayan had lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led government and said the "unconstitutional Bill" will have no place in Kerala and the state will not implement it.

Khan, then too, had said the move had no constitutional or legal validity as citizenship was a central subject.

“This resolution has no legal or constitutional validity because citizenship is exclusively a central subject, this actually means nothing,” said Khan.