'Deranged man': Kerala CM lashes out at Governor Khan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday lashed out at Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for calling a group of protesting Students' Federation of India (SFI) members 'criminals' and said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government has 'let loose such a deranged man'.

Addressing a gathering at Adoor near Pathanamthitta as part of the ongoing 'Nava Kerala Sadas', Vijayan also attacked Khan for his remarks related to the Kannur region of the state.

"It is not a good idea to let loose such a deranged man. At least the central government should understand that it is not good to leave him in this condition. We know that things are happening with the connivance of the central government but everything has a limit," the chief minister said.

The Left leader alleged that Khan has been going around and calling those who oppose his ideology 'rascals'.

"Earlier he called renowned historian Irfan Habib a rascal. He is calling protesting students rascals and criminals," Vijayan said.

Referring to black flag protests, Vijayan said such demonstrations are being held against his government too, but never have they called protesters 'rascals or scoundrels'.

Hitting out at the governor over his Kannur remarks, the chief minister said it is a place that has a prominent space in the history of this country's freedom struggle and listed the names of some prominent persons from the region such as former chief ministers E K Nayanar and K Karunakaran.

He also took the names of V K Krishna Menon, K Kelappan, Vagbhatananda, poet Cherussery, O Chanthu Menon, Sukumar Azheekodu and Raghavan Master.

"That land witnessed the prominent agrarian uprisings. The world noticed Kannur through the Kayyur uprising. In 1928, (Jawharlal) Nehru participated in the Congress meeting at Kannur. (Mahatma) Gandhi ji came to Kannur in 1934. All this happened in the bloody Kannur as mentioned by Khan," Vijayan said.

On Saturday, addressing the media at the Calicut University, Khan had said that he does not believe in scaring people and was not scared of anyone.

"The CM is used to this because he comes from Kannur. Kannur has this bloody history where they have been killing each other," Khan had said.

The chief minister on Sunday also said Khan was deliberately provoking students and the people of Kerala.

Vijayan added that the central government was using the governor to target the state besides strangulating the state financially.

Khan, a day ago, reiterated that the members of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist's students' wing were 'criminals' to whom he was not accountable to explain any of his decisions.

He had alleged that the protesting students were 'criminals hired by the chief minister'.

Earlier this week, he had accused the Vijayan of 'conspiring' to hurt him physically. Khan had made the accusation after his vehicle was allegedly attacked by SFI members while he was on his way to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to leave for Delhi.

The SFI has been staging widespread protests against the governor alleging that he has been pushing BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh nominees to the senate of various universities in Kerala using his authority as the chancellor of the universities in the state.

The SFI has been alleging that Khan's actions were part of the saffronisation agenda of the BJP.