A 'banner war' is ongoing, between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the SFI, at the Calicut University campus, in the presence of the state police.
The Governor made the police pull down one of the banners. The SFI, in retaliation, has said that it would erect 100 anti-Governor banners inside the campus before sunrise.
The Raj Bhavan, in a press communique late in the day, suggested that the banners came up at the command of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. It said the Governor had taken "serious note of the action of the State Police, on the direction of the Chief Minister, in placing posters defamatory to the Governor in the campus of Calicut University".
The communique conveys the Governor's conviction that the Chief Minister has hatched a conspiracy against him. "Hon'ble Governor feels that this cannot happen without the direction of the Chief Minister and that this clearly is the beginning of the collapse of the Constitutional machinery in the state," it says.
It ends with a warning. "He (Governor) said that such deliberate actions of the Chief Minister precipitate the breakdown of constitutional machinery."
Break down of constitutional machinery is one of the four reasons that can prompt a Governor to recommend President's rule in a state.
The SFI, students' wing of ruling CPM, had raised three distinguishable banners over the main road leading to the campus ahead of Governor Khan's arrival on Saturday.
The black banners with writings in white read:
"Mister Chancellor You are not Welcome here"
"Sanghi chancellor wapas jao"
"Chancellor go back"
Governor Khan, who is also the chancellor of universities in Kerala, was upset and demanded the police to remove them. But it remained on the campus until at least 7 pm on Sunday when the Governor tightened his stand.
"Shameless people," he shouted at the police that stood around him for protection. "SFI chala rahi he university. SFI is running this university," he said as he walked around in anger. "They will put the banners and you will have them there?"
Governor Khan had left the guest house on the campus, where he stayed Saturday night, to attend a marriage in Kozhikode. He had instructed the police to remove the banners by the time he was back. But it had not been removed.
It is understood that the Governor dialled the Raj Bhavan secretary and directed him to seek an explanation from the university's Vice-Chancellor on the issue. After that the banners were removed.
The banners return
Shortly after the Governor returned to the guest house having ensured that the banners were gone, the SFI returned, led by state secretary P M Arsho. The SFI activists declared that they would raise more banners and dared the police to touch them.
"Our banners are political questions, they are political slogans. But just like the RSS that fears them, the Governor wants them removed," Arsho told media persons, before declaring that "hundreds of political banners will be raised throughout the campus before daybreak".
The SFI leader claimed that their activists never broke any law. He claimed that SFI maintained restraint despite the Governor's provocation. "But we are going to do an anti-democratic act here. We're going to burn a banner raised by the RSS that says he is great," Arsho said. The SFI activists burned that banner in the presence of the police.
On Monday, Governor Khan will inaugurate a series of seminars organised by the Chair of Sanathana Dharma Studies and Research at the university.
