Kamal Ghorui
The Kerala assembly on Tuesday saw a rare and tense moment, soon after governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar finished his address to the house.Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan stood up and told the assembly that the governor had not read the cabinet-approved policy address in full. He said certain parts of the speech, cleared by the state cabinet, were skipped and some was added.Vijayan said the governor did not read the opening line of paragraph 12 and the concluding part of paragraph 15. These portions criticised the BJP-led union government’s fiscal policies and mentioned bills passed by the Kerala assembly that were still awaiting approval from the Raj Bhavan.One of the omitted lines spoke about Kerala facing “severe fiscal stress” due to actions by the union government that, according to the text, weakened fiscal federalism. Another missing section referred to bills remaining pending for long periods and said the state government had approached the Supreme Court, where the matter was now before a constitution bench.It read: “Despite these social and institutional achievements, Kerala continues to face severe fiscal stress arising from a series of adverse union government actions that undermine the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism.” The other statement read: “Bills passed by state legislatures have remained pending for prolonged periods. My government has approached the Supreme Court on these issues, which have been referred to a constitution bench.“The chief minister also pointed out that the governor made an addition to paragraph 16. Vijayan said Arlekar inserted the words “my government considers” into a line that stated tax devolution and finance commission grants are constitutional rights of states and not acts of charity.“Tax devolution and finance commission grants are constitutional entitlements of states and not acts of charity, and any pressure on constitutional bodies entrusted with this task undermines federal principles,” Vijayan remaked.Vijayan further urged the speaker to recognise only the version of the policy address approved by the state cabinet as the official record, without the omissions or additions.Speaker A N Shamseer said past precedents of the house do not recognise any changes made to a cabinet-approved address. He said the same rule would apply in this case as well.Lok Bhavan Kerala on Tuesday defended the changes made by governor. In a statement, Lok Bhavan said the governor had asked the state government to remove what it described as “half-truths” from the draft policy address. According to Lok Bhavan, the government agreed to this request. Lok Bhavan said the government told the governor that he could prepare and read the policy address with the amendments he considered necessary. It also said the revised speech would be sent again after incorporating the suggested changes. However, Lok Bhavan said the state government later returned the same draft without making the changes. After this, the governor decided to go ahead with the address, including the amendments he had suggested.Meanwhile, a similar confrontation played out in the Tamil Nadu assembly where governor R N Ravi refused to read out the state government-prepared address and walked out of the assembly. Governor Ravi later said he was disappointed over what he described as a lack of respect for the national anthem. He also claimed his microphone was switched off during the proceedings and his speech was interrupted.
