Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan has denied permission for the special assembly session that was set to be convened today by the House. The session involving only party leaders in the House was set to discuss resolution on Wednesday against the farm laws that was enacted by the Centre, after the ruling CPIM-led LDF government had called for it in a cabinet meeting.
The governor upon being requested permission had earlier asked the State government for elaboration on the need for the session to which the state government had responded. Afterwards, finding the reasons not satisfactory the governor denied permission also citing that the matter wasn’t urgent enough for a special assembly session to convene over.
This is the first time in the state’s history that a governor has denied permission for convening a session.
The ruling alliance is yet to respond to the governor denying permission. However, the opposition has been quick to the punch. “He is acting like an agent of the BJP. His decision is not acceptable. It is the prerogative of the house to decide whether an issue is urgent or not,” Congress deputy leader in the House K.C. Joseph said.
The LDF and the UDF were both in agreement regarding resolutions against the passing of the law in the state and the assembly session was expected to reach a unanimous conclusion.
The centre’s enactment of the three farm laws in October had led to large-scale protests by various farmers’ unions, mainly from Punjab and Haryana. They believe that the new laws will gradually dismantle the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Mandi system, which will leave the country’s farmers at the behest of powerful corporates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurances that those systems won’t be affected have largely been ignored.