Panaji: Hitting out at anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Sunday said that the protests are “an attempt to impose views on others”.
Speaking at a conference in Panaji, Khan maintained “Some people have decided to take the law into their hands and disrupt normal life.”
The governor is quoted to have said, “This is not the right to dissent, this is an attempt to impose views on others. You have the right to express your views but you don’t have the right to disrupt normal life.”
Citing the opposition to Supreme Court’s Shah Bano judgment 1986, Khan, who had walked out of the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet over the issue said, “But was it justified on my part to say that I am going to sit in (in protest) till the law is withdrawn.”
Saying that one can have a dialogue with somebody who is expressing an opinion, Khan added, “but it is difficult when protesters refuse to budge.”
Khan asserted “When you have this attitude that only I am right, then dialogue is not happening. Dialogue happens when you are open to listening. Here, it is being asserted forcefully that we will not get up unless this law is withdrawn. The government is not going to decline dialogue if somebody comes”.
When asked about the Kerala government passing a resolution against the CAA, the Kerala governor said “It is for the court to decide whether the government can come to it without clearance from the governor.”