Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday, January 27, blew his top against the state's police officials and is sitting on the road in protest at Nilamel, about 60 kilometres away from the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram. Arif Mohammed Khan was on his way to attend a function about 70 kms from here, when the Left-aligned Students' Federation of India (SFI) enraged him by suddenly staging a protest against him on the roadside.
The Governor's motorcade was reaching Nilamel when about two dozen SFI students arrived on the wayside waving black flags and shouting slogans against Arif Khan. Seeing this, he stopped his car and walked towards the protesters and directed his anger towards the police, alleging that they were not upholding the law. He then sat on a chair that was taken from a roadside tea shop and refused to leave the spot until the protesters are taken into custody, fuming against the police officials who gathered around him.
As the police attempted to arrive at a compromise, the Governor shouted, pointing his fingers at the officials, "No I will not go, you are giving them (the protesters) protection here. They are being sent here with police protection. I will not go from here. If the police itself is breaking the law, who will uphold the law?" He then asked his secretary Mohan to immediately call Union Home Minister Amit Shah or whomever he can get to intervene.
The Governor was peeved as the police did not arrest the protesting SFI activists before his motorcade passed through. He said to the police officials that if such an act took place when the Chief Minister passes by, the police will immediately arrest the protesters.
For a while now, Arif Khan has been up in arms against protesters, especially the SFI, as was seen recently at Kozhikode and before that in the state capital.
IANS story edited to add inputs
