Malappuram: Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Saturday expressed his displeasure over a banner opposing Vinayak Damodar Savarkar at Calicut University, emphasising that the "politicisation of educational institutions" is unacceptable. During his visit for a Senate meeting, he urged the Vice Chancellor to manage "all such matters".

"This politicisation of the educational system, educational institution, should not be tolerated," the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of universities in the state, said.

Arlekar said that he saw a banner that said, 'We need a Chancellor and not a Savarkar' and asked, "I don't know what thinking this is. What sort of thinking is this? Was Savarkar an enemy of this country? What we need, we do not understand. The Chancellor is here with you; you do now whatever you want to do with the Chancellor. But what bad thing Savarkar has done?"

"If you go through his educational thinking, you will understand what he has given to this society. He has never thought of his own affairs, house, family... never. He always thought of others and tried to give something to others," he said.

He further said that he did not intend to discuss Savarkar at the meeting, but the banner "compelled" him to do so. The banner was reportedly put up sometime back by SFI.