Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said everybody has the right to protest, protests are democratic, but nobody can threaten or intimidate him with such actions.

Responding to the protests march staged by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) workers before Kerala Raj Bhavan, in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday against the governor’s recent actions against vice-chancellors, Khan said everybody has the right to protest, protests are democratic, but nobody can threaten or intimidate him with such actions.

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“If they think that I can be pressurised or threatened, they are mistaken. I only questioned illegal appointments and nepotism in universities. That is what the apex court and high court upheld recently. All are bound to go by the law of the land,” Governor Khan told media persons in New Delhi.

Arif Mohammed Khan said  he is not the type of person who can be pressurised. “I’m not going to deal with these things. But I can tell you one thing, I think there’s enough evidence for you to come to the conclusion that I’m not the type of person who can be pressurised,” he further said.

He alleged that universities in Kerala have become fiefdoms of the party cadre and their relatives. He asked as to whether there is any other state in the country where 100 percent of appointments have been made in violation of the law.

The governor said he is only performing his constitutional responsibility and that there is no turning back from it.

The governor said as chancellor of the universities in Kerala, he is disturbed by what is happening there, and he added that the  universities will not be allowed to become party departments. Illegal appointments are taking place in all 13 universities in Kerala, the Governor alleged.

Stating that the job to run universities is with the Chancellor and  business to run  the government is with the elected government, the Governor said he will resign from his post, if one instance is pointed out  where he tried to interfere in the business of government.

“But, I can give you 1,001 examples where they interfered in the functioning of Universities daily,” he said.