Kerala governor P. Sathasivam’s annual address before the state Assembly has sparked a controversy as he skipped certain lines from his speech prepared by the LDF government that was critical of the central government and certain ‘communal outfits.’
According to reports, the draft of the Governor’s speech had a line stating, “There has not been any instance of communal riot in our state despite the plotting by certain communal outfits.’’ But, the governor skipped the portion, “despite the plotting by certain communal outfits”.
This has irked the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF alike. However, the state BJP has stood with the Governor accusing the government of trying to politicize Governor’s address.
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The Governor also avoided a sentence that was critical of the central government.
His draft had a line, stating, “We are also perturbed by the tendency of the Central Government to ignore the best traditions of cooperative federalism by bypassing the State Government and directly dealing with the district authorities and local bodies.’’
However, he skipped the entire sentence in his speech.
Interestingly, the Governor, has adhered to certain other sentences that was critical of the Centre’s demonetization move and the GST.
“Demonetisation and the introduction of GST in an inappropriate manner and time has resulted in serious deceleration in the economy and mounting unemployment,” he said.
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At another instance, he stated, “During the past year, a month-long campaign was carried out across India, on certain flimsy ground by some communal outfits.”
