Kerala gold smuggling case: Governor Arif Muhammed Khan slams CM Pinarayi of ‘stonewalling queries’

Kerala Governor Arif Muhammed Khan accuses CM Pinarayi Vijayan of not acknowledging the letters from Raj Bhavan.

Kerala Governor Arif Muhammed Khan has accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of stonewalling Raj Bhavan’s urgent queries about the alleged use of gold smuggling and hawala racketeering proceeds to finance anti-national activities. 

The Governor-Chief Minister spat showed no signs of abating, with Mr. Khan accusing Mr. Vijayan of not acknowledging the letters from Raj Bhavan regarding the same. The conflict has been playing out prominently in the public domain for the past several days.

In another letter to Mr. Vijayan on Friday (October 11, 2024) Mr. Khan said he was constrained to ask the Chief Secretary and State Police Chief to brief him in person about the alleged gold-smuggling-anti-national link after the Chief Minister “failed” in his constitutional duty to brief the Governor. 

Mr. Vijayan seemed to have earned Mr. Khan’s ire by forbidding the Chief Secretary and the State Police Chief from briefing the Governor “behind” the Chief Minister’s Office.

He also took strong umbrage at Mr. Khan summoning top State officials to the Raj Bhavan without informing the Chief Minister. 

In the latest letter, Mr. Khan also complained about Mr Vijayan’s belated response to Raj Bhavan’s queries and termed it a “lapse.

Mr. Khan noted that Article 167 of the Constitution prescribed the Chief Minister’s duty to inform the Governor. 

“It (the Article) leaves no scope for the Chief Minister to sit on a communication from the Governor for 27 days and fail even to acknowledge it till the Governor asks the Chief Secretary to come for a briefing”, Mr. Khan wrote. 

He said Mr. Vijayan had blamed the Central Customs for the inflow of contraband gold into the country, 

“If you now genuinely wish me to take up this matter with the Government of India, you may submit the file with a consolidated note incorporating the points for consideration with relevant facts and figures”, Mr. Khan wrote. 

Mr. Khan said neither Mr. Vijayan nor any minister had turned up at the Raj Bhavan for constitutionally mandatory briefings with the Governor. He said Mr. Vijayan dispatched officials to treat with the Governor, even in urgent matters such as the promulgation of ordinances. In an earlier letter to Mr. Khan, Mr. Vijayan expressed his disinclination to continue the debate.

On Friday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Secretary M.V. Govindan said Mr. Khan’s term as Governor had long expired, and the latter continued in office in a caretaker role. He said Mr. Khan’s sabre rattling would not scare communists who had historically survived worse assaults.

He also accused Mr. Khan of derailing the higher education sector as the Chancellor of State-funded Universities. Mr. Govindan said Mr. Khan’s drive to saffronise Kerala’s higher education had caused a stalemate and roiled the student and academic community. 

Published - October 12, 2024 10:52 am IST