Pathanamthitta : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday lashed out at Governor Arif Mohammed Khan for calling a group of protesting SFI members "criminals" and said the BJP-led central government has "let loose such a deranged man".
Addressing a gathering at Adoor near here 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.