Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 14 Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday accused the UDF government of "remaining silent" over the appointment of a temporary Vice Chancellor at Mahatma Gandhi University and alleged that it had surrendered to the Governor's interventions in the higher education sector.
Addressing a press conference, the CPI(M) leader said the government's stance on the Governor's actions in connection with the temporary Vice Chancellor's appointment at MG University was a matter of serious concern.
“An office-bearer of a Sangh Parivar-affiliated teachers' organisation has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of MG University. Generally, such a move should have been opposed. But the government was not prepared to oppose it,” he alleged.
Vijayan also claimed that 19 Sangh Parivar sympathisers had been included in the university senate and accused the government of "failing" to object to the developments.
“The UDF political leadership is also not prepared to oppose this. In fact, the Higher Education Minister has publicly stated that there is no confrontation with the Governor,” he said.
Alleging that the Governor's position reflected that of the RSS, Vijayan said the government's approach amounted to complete submission before the Sangh Parivar's agenda.
“The Governor's stand is a stand taken for the RSS. What we are witnessing is complete surrender by the UDF government before that position,” he alleged.
Vijayan said the CM's response to questions from the media on the issue was misleading and argued that the governor's interventions in universities began after the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014.
According to Vijayan, efforts to exert influence over Kerala's higher education sector intensified after former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan assumed office in 2019.
“Recognising these attempts, the LDF government adopted a strong stand against such interventions and continued that position until it demitted office,” he said.
Vijayan said the previous LDF government had introduced legislation to prevent what it viewed as unlawful interventions in universities and accused the UDF of opposing those efforts.
“To prevent such illegal actions, the LDF government introduced amendments to university laws in the Assembly. At that time, we attempted to enact legislation to remove Governors from the post of Chancellor,” he said.
According to Vijayan, an ordinance to that effect was approved in November 2022 and a Bill was passed by the Assembly in December that year.
“Unfortunately, the UDF opposed the Bill in the Assembly. The Governor was not prepared to grant assent to the legislation passed by the Assembly and kept it pending. The government then approached the Supreme Court against that decision,” he said.
He alleged that instead of supporting measures aimed at curbing what he described as "unconstitutional interventions", the opposition had criticised and opposed them.
“Foreseeing such extra-constitutional interventions in the future, we moved ahead with legislation. The UDF stabbed that effort in the back by raising strong objections. That became an encouragement for the Governor to continue such actions with greater confidence,” he alleged.
Vijayan also referred to disputes over the functioning of universities during the LDF government's tenure and said legal amendments had been introduced to ensure that syndicate meetings were held regularly.
He said the LDF government had approached the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court on several occasions over the appointment of Vice Chancellors in institutions, including APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and Digital University Kerala and claimed that the government had secured favourable verdicts in most cases.
Referring to the present controversy at MG University, Vijayan said the tenure of the Vice Chancellor ended on May 31, 2026, while the UDF government assumed office on May 18.
“The responsibility of submitting a panel for the appointment of a temporary Vice Chancellor rested with the UDF government. They failed to discharge that responsibility. The Chief Minister concealed this aspect during his press conference,” he alleged.
