THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Police registered a case against seven Students’ Federation of India (SFI) activists for obstructing and attacking Governor Arif Mohammed Khan’s convoy.
The accused activists have been identified as Yedhu Krishnan, Aashique Pradeep, Aashish, Dileep, Aman Ghafoor and Rino Stephen.
Dramatic and chaotic scenes unfolded when a group of SFI members attacked the Governor’s convoy when he was moving towards the airport for a flight to Delhi. Khan accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of conspiring with the SFI activists to attack him.
kerala governor attack by cpm/sfi in capital.shame on cpm. pic.twitter.com/ygcbbaR7oS
— chandrasekhar swaminathan (@chandra71105813) December 12, 2023
“They hit my car from both sides. Will they allow anyone to come near the car of the Chief Minister? The constitutional machinery seems to be collapsing. This cannot be allowed anymore. If he (Vijayan) disagrees with something I do, it doesn’t mean that he can hatch a conspiracy to hurt me”, expressed Khan with anger to the media after the attack.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), apart from the accused, 10 other unidentified SFI activists, allegedly, were also present at the spot.
The attack on Khan’s convoy has now lit a match again, straining the relationship between the Raj Bhavan and the Chief Minister’s Office further. Both the CMO and the Governor have been involved in multiple faceoffs, marked by the latter’s refusal to give assent to bills passed by the assembly.
A government’s stability can be assessed from how well they manage law & order and finance. Kerala seems the worst in India. No safety for the Governor. Political goons beat up peaceful protestors. State relies almost entirely on loans to even pay up salaries and pension.
— Sreejith Panickar (@PanickarS) December 12, 2023
Leader of Opposition in the legislature and a member of the Congress party, VD Satheesan, condemned the incident, stating that the law and order situation in the state had collapsed. He further demanded action against the activists who had collaborated to pull the attack off.
On the other hand, the officials at Raj Bhavan have called the matter “extremely serious”, highlighting it as a “first time incident”. “We have taken up the matter with the required authorities with utmost seriousness”, said a senior official in the Kerala Raj Bhavan.
Presently, the seven accused have been booked under Sections 143 (Member of unlawful assembly), 147 (Rioting), 149 (Unlawful assembly) and 353 (Assault on public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).