The Kerala assembly witnessed unusual scenes on Tuesday after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pointed out that Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar had avoided reading certain portions of the Cabinet-approved policy address and had added parts that were changed and left unread in the policy speech.
After seeing off the Governor, CM Vijayan returned to the Assembly and announced that Governor Arlekar had made changes to certain paragraphs of the policy speech. He added that while some sections were omitted, the Governor made additions elsewhere.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed the Assembly that Arlekar did not read the opening of paragraph 12 and the concluding portion of paragraph 15 of the cabinet-approved document.
The Chief Minister said that the policy address approved by the state cabinet, printed and circulated to members, must be regarded as the official version. “The Assembly should only consider this version as the official policy address,” he said, citing constitutional principles and Assembly precedents. The Chief Minister read out the part left out by the Governor in a manner that drew the attention of the members to the omissions.
Supporting the Chief Minister’s position, Assembly Speaker A. N. Shamseer said that avoiding or adding portions to the cabinet-approved address is not officially recognised, and that past precedents shall apply in this instance as well.
One of the omitted portions stated: “Despite these social and institutional achievements, Kerala continues to face severe fiscal stress arising from a series of adverse Union government actions that undermine the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism.” In the Governor’s version, this was modified with the prefix “My government feels” and the critical reference was replaced with the phrase “curtailment of advances”.
The Governor also altered a section concerning tax devolution, which originally stated: “Tax devolution and Finance Commission grants are constitutional entitlements of states and not acts of charity.” In his version, Arlekar added “My government feels” and removed the words “acts of charity.”
Addressing the 16th session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly, the Governor said that Kerala is on the path of development, describing the past ten years as a period of major achievements and the state as a national model in decentralisation. He added that the state government had made significant progress over the past 10 years in sectors such as social welfare, infrastructure, and employment generation.