SFI protest against Kerala Guv ahead of his Ponnani visit

Malappuram: The student branch of the CPI(M), SFI, raised unwelcoming banners against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at Ponnani, in a district in north Kerala, where he is expected to speak at a Congress party-organized commemoration programme on Wednesday.

Hours before Khan arrived to take part in a programme honouring late Congress leader P T Mohana Krishnan, the Students Federation of India (SFI) hung banners at various locations in Ponnani with the words, Mister Chancellor you are not welcome here' and 'Mister chancellor this is a place where there are a lot of people whom you called bloody criminals, be careful'.

Khan had on Tuesday faced a massive protest from various youth outfits affiliated to the ruling Left Democratic Front during his visit to Thodupuzha in Idukki district to participate in a function organised by the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti, a traders' body, PTI reported.

The hartal in Idukki district was called by the LDF in protest against his non-assent to the Kerala Government Land Assignment (Amendment) Bill 2023.

At the traders' body's event, Khan emphasised that he is a public servant and not a rubber stamp.

Many shops remained closed and the number of vehicles on the roads was comparatively less in the high-range district in the initial hours of the dawn-to-dusk hartal.

The SFI had put up banners in many places which said -- "Sanghi Governor not welcome here." The Kerala government passed the bill in the Legislative Assembly on September 14, 2023, taking into consideration the decades-long demand of the people of the Idukki district.