New Delhi: In bringing in the triple talaq law in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did for Muslim sisters what former PM Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to but could not — restore some of their rights, Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan told ThePrint Thursday in an exclusive interview.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), brought in the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act in 2019, which banned the practice of instant triple talaq and made it a penal offence.
Elaborating on the Nehru angle, Khan referred to an interview that independent India’s first prime minister had reportedly given in the late ’50’s where he had said that while the greatest achievement of his life was that he could restore some of the rights that were denied to Hindu women for ages, one of his life’s disappointment was that he could not do the same thing for his Muslim sisters.
“Who did it for the Muslim sisters? PM Narendra Modi. Will Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, if he were alive, be happy with PM Narendra Modi or will be upset with him for doing this? Unfortunately, those who claim the legacy of Pandit Nehru do not understand,” the Kerala governor said, adding that even those who claim the legacy of E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the CPI and CPI-M stalwart and Kerala’s first CM, are not true to his legacy.
Khan said that in 1986, when he resigned as a minister in the Union govt over the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government’s stand on the Shah Bano case, two parties gave him full support. One was the BJP, although it did not have many members in parliament at the time. And the others were the Left parties — CPI and CPI(M).
In a landmark verdict in 1985, the Supreme Court had upheld Shah Bano’s right to claim maintenance from her husband, who had divorced her. Bano’s husband had contested her claim saying Muslim Personal Law required him to provide for her only until the Iddat period, or the waiting period a woman must observe after divorce before she marries another man.
However, the Congress government at the Centre under then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, overturned the SC judgment in 1986 and passed the Muslim Women (Protection on Divorce Act).
“E.M.S. Namboodiripad ji went the extra mile in my support. And, today what a sorry state of affairs that Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, a protege of Namboodiripad is finding fault with this law and supporting triple talaq. What a monstrosity,” said Khan.
The Kerala governor added: “… this law was enforced in the mid-13th century, which means it took more than 800 years to put an end to this. Maybe, not today because of political reasons but the future generations of Muslim women, particularly will remember Sri Narendra Modi, the PM of India with great sense of gratitude.”
Khan has had frequent run-ins with the current Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala over a host of issues, including the appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) to state universities, appointment of a spouse of an official working in the chief minister’s office as associate professor in Kannur University and alleged delaying key bills, among others.
Khan, however, said that the run-in was only on one issue, which is autonomy of universities. “… there should be no executive interference in the universities, which means no interference by the government,” he said.
The governor is the chancellor of state universities.
The Kerala governor said there can be no greater proof of interference that even the Supreme Court has held that 11 of the 13 VC appointments in Kerala before Khan’s tenure as void ab initio right from day one.
“Why? Because the government insisted on having chief secretaries on the selection committee and [the] honorable SC has said that presence of a non-academic on the selection panel will make the whole process vicious,” Khan said.
He added that according to UGC regulations, the selection committee cannot recommend just one name because when you recommend one name you are tying the hands of the chancellor to appoint that person.
“It should be necessarily a panel of three names. Out of 11, in almost nine or ten, there was a recommendation of only one name. So, can there be a greater proof of interference?” he asked.
Khan added that he refused to have their (government’s) choice as his nominee.
“When they insisted and created a situation, I immediately wrote to them to make some alternative arrangements. I said you take over as chancellor but don’t force me to do things, which in my opinion are not proper, are not legal and they violate not only the provisions of the law but the spirit also.”
In December 2021, Khan had written to CM Pinarayi Vijayan expressing his desire to step down from post of chancellor of universities over the alleged interference of state government in the appointment of vice-chancellors.
The Kerala governor was also critical of the decision of the Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to appoint party workers as personal staff of ministers and make them entitled to lifelong pensions after two years.
“…. so, one minister in one term produces 50 full-time party workers, who are paid a salary by the government. Is it moral? Is it ok? Particularly at a time when Kerala is under heavy financial debt. But because unfortunately every political party there, who have been and almost all of them have been in the government… they are all getting benefits. Therefore nobody raises their voice. This is the height of misuse of public funds. Where a person, who is appointed all over the country on a co-terminus basis. You are making that person entitled to a lifelong pension, Khan said.
Following the run-ins, Khan has been called an agent of BJP and the CPI(M) in Kerala has called for abolishing the post of Governor.
Khan brushed it off saying that in a democracy people are entitled to their views.
“This is not the first time. So many times in the past, this kind of demand has been made. It is for the Parliament to consider and we also have to take into consideration the reasons, and the logic, which impelled the Constituent Assembly to create the existing Constitutional arrangement,” he said.
The governor added that in Kerala, there has been a violation of protocol and basic courtesy.
“… sometimes he (Kerala CM) had not even replied to my letters. I have said on record that if you show one example where I have tried to encroach on your jurisdiction, I shall put in my papers on that very day. They have not been able to show and I can show so many things where they are interfering in the University, which is the domain of the chancellor [a position held by the state’s governor] on a regular basis,” Khan said.
Khan has also been blamed for delaying crucial laws like the Lokayukta bill. The Kerala governor told ThePrint that there are basic issues with the bill, which is why he has not cleared them.
“The basic principle of jurisprudence is that you cannot be a judge in your own case. The Lokayukta bill has been framed in a manner where those against whom a complaint is lodged, will decide the fate of the complaint. How can you allow that?,” he said, adding that the governor has the authority to review whether the provisions of a proposed bill are in consonance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Uniform Civil Code is about ‘uniformity of justice’
After leaving Congress in 1986, Khan was with Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) before joining the BJP. He left the BJP in 2007, in protest over the party’s ticket distribution in Uttar Pradesh for that year’s assembly election. But came out in support of the Modi government after the The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, which banned instant triple talaq, was passed in 2019.
Khan is among a handful of prominent Muslim voices who have also been very vocal on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) that the BJP has been pushing for. He said that some of the people are using it (UCC) only to create misunderstanding. “… and when the forces of who create misunderstanding are at work then we also need to take more initiatives to dispel those misunderstandings and there the role of media becomes important”.
The Kerala governor added: “UCC is not about bringing uniformity. This country cherishes diversity…. The day UCC becomes a reality, it does not mean that everybody will be forced to solemnise marriage in the same manner. No. Even among Hindus, where Hindu code is applicable and it is applicable to Jain, Sikhs and Buddhists also, have we been able to achieve uniformity? There is no law that can be used for that purpose. UCC is meant to create uniformity of justice”.
Khan also brushed off the question on BJP’s Christian outreach in Kerala.
“There is no such thing…. From day one of his tenure, PM Modi has been saying sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, sabka vishwas…. Is there any single complaint in the whole country that all the welfare schemes, which he has launched — whether it is about the distribution of the food, gas connections or beti bachao beti padhao — where it has been alleged that some discrimination is being made on the basis of religion?”
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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