Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was apparently amused at Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's constant reminders of his gubernatorial authority.
“You please read the Constitution,” a smiling Yechury said when told about the Governor's claim that the government should have informed him before moving the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Yechury was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the CPM's three-day Central Committee meeting here on Friday.
He said the Governor had no right to seek a report from the State Government for its decision to take legal recourse.
“At the most, he can file a report to the President of India,” Yechury said.
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had told reporters in Delhi on Friday that he would seek a report from the Pinarayi Vijayan Government for moving the apex court without intimating him.
“As per the Constitution, the government has to inform the Governor of issues that affect Centre-State relations,” the Governor had said early on Friday.
The CPM general secretary, on the other hand, said a state had the constitutionally-guaranteed right to take actions in the interests of the State and its people.
Asked whether the LDF would initiate measures to remove the Governor, Yechury brushed aside the poser saying there were larger issues at stake. “Why bother about minor things when the Constitution itself was under threat. We have to be careful not to be distracted from the larger issue,” Yechury said.
Mamata's inconsistencies
The CPM general secretary also indicated that state-level differences would not harm the national coalition against the CAA.
He wanted national and state-level politics to be seen differently. “There is a coming together of parties at the national level and this is not for any electoral purposes. This is only a common front against the CAA. Differences at the state level will be dealt with at the state level,” Yechury said, referring to the Congress decision to stay away from any joint protest in Kerala.
“You can ask the Congress why they have decided to stay apart,” he added.
Yechury was severely critical of Mamata Banerjee's decision to keep away from the 'opposition meet' on January 13.
“She had attended earlier meetings. And then she chose not to come for flimsy reasons,” Yechury said.
According to him, the huge success of the all-India strike called by trade unions on January 8 had given Mamata a cruel jolt. “She said the strike would be defeated in Bengal but the strike gained massive public support,” Yechury said.
Muslim question
Nonetheless, Yechury was vague about forging a joint political front with the Muslim League on the CAA issue. “The Muslim League is with the UDF, and both the UDF and the LDF had opposed the CAA,” he said.
Now that the Muslims are the threatened lot, he was asked whether the CPM would shed its rigidity about communal parties and forge a political alliance with the League.
“This is not the time to think about narrow issues like who will ally with whom, and when. Democracy itself will cease to exist if the Constitution is undermined,” Yechury said.
