Kerala governor skips portions critical of Modi govt in assembly speech, stirs row

The governor was addressing the assembly on the opening day of the budget session.

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Kerala governor P Sathasivam on Monday sparked a controversy after he skipped portions from his prepared speech that were critical of the Modi government.

The governor was addressing the assembly on the opening day of the budget session.

His speech was prepared by the state government and was distributed to the legislators and media prior to the session.

In his printed copy, the portion that referred to the alleged tendency of the central government to "roughshod" the traditions of cooperative federalism by bypassing the state government, was omitted by the governor.

"We are also perturbed by the tendency of the central government to roughshod the best traditions of co-operative federalism by bypassing the state government and directly dealing with the district authorities and local bodies," the text said.

The governor referred to "plotting" by some communal outfits to trigger tension in the society.

"Kerala has once again been identified as first in the country in maintenance of law and order and top the country in the ranking of quality of life. There has not been any instance of communal riot in our state despite the plotting by certain communal outfits," the copy of the speech said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s office maintained that it doesn’t usually react on the governor’s policy address.

"We usually do not make any comment on the governor's policy address," official sources said.

Reports also say that the Governor had mentioned about the unwanted communal forces working on “certain flimsy grounds” in his policy address.

Despite being a state with some of the best law and order indices in the country, a month long campaign was carried out across India, on certain flimsy grounds by some communal outfits," he said.

He also added that in the past one year there has been "slanderous" attacks on the secular traditions of Kerala. There have been attempts to downplay its achievements in the social sector and criticise its law and order situation, the governor said.

In October 2017, BJP had conducted 'Janaraksha yatra' against the alleged 'red terror'.

The feud between the saffron and the alleged red terror had then caught national media attention.

BJP’s president Amit Shah had remarked that Kerala is a fertile ground for 'jihadi terror'.