India's not a banana republic, oppn must read constitution: Kerala Governor

Kozhikode: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Tuesday hit out at the state's opposition and asked them to read the Constitution.

"It will be useful for the opposition to read the constitution. I do not wish to reply to those who behave irresponsibly," he said while speaking to media here.

Khan lashed out at the Congress-led UDF for accusing him of being discriminatory and demanding the centre to summon him back.

"India is not a banana republic. All sections of the society are viewed equally here," he said.

The Governor also added that Kerala was a wonderful state with high educational standards.

"If the state was not performing well on any aspects, I'm duty bound to call it's attention to the matter," he said.

On Monday, Kerala Assembly had accepted the decision of its Business Advisory Committee (BAC) not to discuss the notice for the resolution moved by Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, asking the President to recall the Kerala Governor over his stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The decision of the BAC was later put to vote with 74 supporting it and 36 opposing.

The resolution had sought recall of the governor for "violating all democratic principles and publicly questioning the pride of the legislature".

Chennithala had accused the Governor of publicly challenging the unanimous resolution passed by the state Assembly against the CAA.

Khan, who had been at loggerheads with the left government after the assembly unanimously passed an anti-CAA resolution and moved the Supreme Court challenging the law, had, however, read the reference to the Citizenship law in his policy address in the House on January 29.

Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said there was no need to seek the recall of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan just because he had a different opinion on CAA as the state Assembly dropped an opposition UDF resolution pressing the demand.

Supporting the BAC decision taken on Friday, Pinarayi had said, "There is no need to recall him (Governor) just because he has got a different opinion. We have expressed our disagreement with him."

He also accused the opposition of trying to exploit the powers of the Governor in many instances in the past.

"The opposition has been pressurising the Governor to perform unconstitutional tasks," Pinarayi had said in an apparent reference to the opposition demanding the Governor not to sign the ordinance with regard to local self-government delimitation.

Chennithala said the "double standards" of the chief minister and the Left front has been exposed.

"Now it's clear that the chief minister and the Left were not genuine in their protest against the CAA. The Governor had violated all democratic principles and publicly questioned the pride of the legislature," he added.