Former Madras High Court judge K. Chandru has called for abolishing the posts of Governors who are purportedly sent as “Trojan horses” by the Centre to destablise State governments.
Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of reducing Raj Bhavans to party offices, he proposed a system of appointing Governors only after obtaining the approval by the respective States.
He was inaugurating a seminar on ‘Federalism and Governorship in India’ jointly organised by the CPI(M)-run AKG Centre for Research and Studies and the All India Lawyers’ Union (AILU) here on Friday.
The programme witnessed several leaders of various Left Democratic Front (LDF)-constituent parties mounting a scathing attack on Governor Arif Mohammed Khan whose relationship with the ruling front has soured in the recent past.
Mr. Chandru accused the “triumvirate” of Mr. Khan, Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi and Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who also holds the post of Lt. Governor of Puducherry, of bringing disrepute to the posts and reducing the status attached to them. “They have been chosen by the Home Ministry to destablise the elected governments in the southern States where they (BJP) have only less than 3% votes,” he said.
While the President is bound by the advice of the Cabinet led by the Prime Minister, the same is not the case for Governors. This ambivalence has often led to friction in States ruled by parties different from that at the Centre, added Mr. Chandru.
CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan accused the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as well as Governors, including Mr. Khan, of doing the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)’s bidding of violating the Indian Constitution and the federal system that seeks to uphold plurality in the country.
AKG Centre for Research and Studies director T.M. Thomas Isaac, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) State president P.C. Chacko, Lopez Mathew of the Kerala Congress (M), Varghese George of the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and K. Anil Kumar of the CPI(M) also spoke.
