Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala University Senate campus here on Tuesday witnessed dramatic scenes as activists of the Student's Federation of India (SFI), the students' wing of the ruling CPI(M), staged a protest against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan while he was attending a seminar.
The ruling CPI(M) and the SFI have been at loggerheads with Governor Khan over various issues for some time. Despite the intense security laid by police, the SFI activists forcefully opened the closed gates of the campus and ran towards the Senate Hall where Khan was participating in the seminar.
Though the police closed the doors and windows of the seminar hall and prevented the protesters from entering inside, they engaged in a minor scuffle with the law enforcers. The SFI activists later staged a sit-in at the portals of the Senate Hall. They held a protest march through the campus and went out through the main gate.
SFI leaders, who led the protest, later accused Governor Khan of attempting to "saffronise" universities in the state. They also criticised him over the appointment of vice chancellors in various varsities and warned that it was only a token protest. Meanwhile, Governor Khan, who came out after inaugurating the three-day-long seminar organised by the Sanskrit Department, lashed out at the reporters when they asked questions about the SFI protest.
When reporters asked why the protesters were not arrested, a fuming Khan told them to ask the question to the city police commissioner. "What is my role in it? Why are you asking this question to me? Go and ask the police commissioner. How do I know? I am addressing a meeting," he said.
Accusing the media of not having an interest in academic seminars or in the number of people attending it, the Governor also alleged that it was interested only in disruptive activity. The Governor's recent appointment of vice-chancellors to technical and digital universities in the state had invited sharp criticism from the CPI(M) which alleged that Khan bypassed the High Court's directive in making these appointments.
