Setting off a fresh round of fist fight, the Governor Arif Mohammed Khan shot off a sharply worded rebuke to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday after the CM had asked the Chief Secretary not to brief the Governor on alleged statement by the CM on use of money from gold smuggling for anti-national activities.
In his letter to the Governor, the Chief Minister said that he had instructed the Chief Secretary not to act in accordance with the direction of the Governor or to respond to the communication conveyed behind the back of an elected government. The CM further said in the letter that asking the Chief Secretary and the State Police chief to brief the Governor directly was against all principles of democratic governance, constitutional provisions and constitutional morality.
The Governor had requested a briefing by the Chief Secretary and the DGP on the CM's alleged statements, which appeared in an interview in The Hindu. Pinarayi Vijayan disowned the statements regarding Malappuram and on linking money from gold smuggling to anti-national activities after it had kicked up a row.
The governor sent a letter on October 3 regarding the interview published in The Hindu. He cited the statements from the interview and the figures on smuggled gold and hawala money declared by the CM in a press conference held on September 21. In his letter, the Governor said that he was surprised that the CM kept him in the dark about the grave matter of using ill-gotten money for anti-national activities. He sought information on how Pinarayi Vijayan came to know about anti-national activities and the groups who are masterminding the operations. A detailed report was sought from the Chief Minister.
The Governor asked for a briefing from the Chief Secretary in the absence of a response from Pinarayi Vijayan to his letter. In his letter to the CM sent on Tuesday, the Governor said, “Your silence, inaction and inordinate delay on my request for information regarding anti-national and anti-state activities which according to your public statements are going on for the last three years, are intriguing and create an impression that you have something to hide.”
He said that his letter to the Chief Secretary could in no way be termed as one against the scheme of constitutional provision and morality. "The grave crime of using ill-gotten money from gold smuggling for anti-national activities cannot be brushed aside a a routine administrative matter citing constitutional morality," Governor said in the letter, adding that he sought a briefing to furnish a report to the President of India about the anti-national activities going on in the past three years.
