Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar made a decisive move by reinstating the security personnel who had served his predecessor, Arif Mohammad Khan. Additionally, he summoned ADGP Manoj Abraham to the Raj Bhavan, a step political analysts view as highly significant.
Published Jan 04, 2025 | 9:29 AM ⚊ Updated Jan 04, 2025 | 9:29 AM
On his first day in office, Kerala Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar made a decisive move by reinstating the security personnel who had served under his predecessor, Arif Mohammed Khan.(X)
Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, who took the oath of office as the 23rd Governor of Kerala on 2 January, indicated that the state government could expect continuity with his predecessor.
Security personnel, whom the state government had initially re-assigned after they served former governor Arif Mohammad Khan, were reinstated.
The governor summoned ADGP Manoj Abraham to the Raj Bhavan, a step political analysts view as significant.
It is widely known that the security personnel, unhappy at being reassigned, directly approached Governor Arlekar to inform him about the changes. He intervened to restore them to their earlier role.
Sources said the state government’s move to replace these officers was an attempt to deploy personnel better aligned with the state home department.
The Governor promptly summoned ADGP Abraham, currently overseeing the responsibilities of the Kerala Director General of Police (DGP) due to the latter’s leave of absence.
Political commentator Roy Mathew told South First that these developments were not surprising.
“The RSS/BJP tends to place favored officials in security roles, and this is a continuation of that pattern. I have received information from Raj Bhavan that Arlekar allowed the personal staff of Arif Mohammad Khan to continue.”
With just a year and a half for the assembly polls in the state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan may be keen to avoid confrontation. The new governor got a warm welcome.
There are important welfare schemes in the pipeline of the state government, and new bills set to be passed – a head-on collision with the governor may put a spanner in the works.
While disagreements between the state government and the governor have occurred in Kerala in the past too, it is only in the past decade, under the watch of the current BJP-led government at the Centre, that governors have interfered in routine governance.
In 1957, Governor Ramakrishna Rao had conflicts with the EMS Namboodiripad government, the first communist government in India to assume power through democratic elections.
In 1959, for the first time in Independent India, the Kerala government was dismissed on grounds of the failure of law and order, under Article 356 of the Constitution.
Jothi Venkitachalam, who served as Kerala governor between 1977 and 1982, also had differences with the government of EK Nayanar on some bills.
However, no previous governor had spats with the state government in the manner of Khan.
Dr D Dhanuraj, chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) in Kochi, said the BJP is setting the stage for the 2026 Assembly polls.
“After all, Arlekar is also a political figure. He may adopt a different approach from Arif Mohammad Khan, but we can certainly expect more bold moves from him,” Dr Dhanuraj told South First.
Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament, posted on Facebook: “Let us hope he has a happy tenure in our complicated state.”
On social media, the phrase “complicated state” caused some tumult.
Adv. K. Anil Kumar, a member of the Kerala CPI (M) state committee, said, “There is no political agenda behind this move. The Governor has the right to choose his security officials. Former Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had Z-plus security, and Arlekar might assume that the political dynamics he witnessed in Bihar will persist here, but this is a different land. He will soon realize that. The Governor has complete freedom in this matter, there is no politics involved.”
(Edited by Rosamma Thomas).
