Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. File.
| Photo Credit: N. Rajesh
Amid the protracted standoff between the CPI(M)-led LDF government and the Raj Bhavan on a range of issues, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday (September 28, 20250 released the inaugural issue of Rajahams - the official Kerala Raj Bhavan quarterly - while observing that the State government need not necessarily share all the views expressed in it.Handing over the first copy of the quarterly to Shashi Tharoor MP in the presence of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Mr. Vijayan said conflicting views do not upset the State government. Articles containing views opposed to the government’s standpoints may appear in the Raj Bhavan journal, given the importance Kerala society places on discourse and debate, the Chief Minister said.Mr. Vijayan specifically noted one article in the first issue, ‘Article 200 and a Constitutional Conundrum,’ observing that the views presented in it might be the author’s personal opinions, but were not necessarily the State government’s. The article, authored by Adv Sreekumar, Legal Advisor to the Governor, dealt with Article 200 of the Constitution which outlines the Governors’ powers with respect to bills passed by State Legislatures.Merely because they are views presented in the Raj Bhavan’s official journal should not lend the impression that the government shares them as well, Mr. Vijayan said. “The problem is this. Should dissent be accommodated or strangled? Kerala has a government that believes that the first is needed. Our renaissance heritage has bequeathed us a public sphere that embraces dissent and conflicting views. Since the government’s stand is that this heritage should sustain, differences of opinion scarcely disturb it,” he said.Bharat Mata motif absent at venueThe Bharat Matha motif, whose display at Raj Bhavan events remains one of the bitterly disputed points between the government and the Raj Bhavan, was absent at Sunday’s event.Raj Bhavans as Lok BhavansMr. Arlekar underscored the need for Raj Bhavans, the official residences of the Governors, to become more accessible to the people. He recalled a suggestion that he had made at a Governors’ Conference that the Raj Bhavans should be renamed ‘Lok Bhavans.’ Raj Bhavans tended to remain “fort-like,” leaving the people with little idea about what goes on inside. But today things have changed, he said. What is needed is a “two-way traffic” where the Raj Bhavan and the people show concern for each other, he said.Mr. Tharoor said there would be general agreement that the Raj Bhavan should not be a “distant institution” from the people. Recalling his own earlier suggestion that they should be renamed Lok Bhavans, Mr. Tharoor said they should be establishments that belong to the people; establishments that listen, reflect and share. He expressed the hope that the official quarterly would become a bridge between “the governance of the State and the governed of the State.”The Vice Chancellor in-charge of the University of Kerala Mohanan Kunnummal and M. Junaid Bushiri, VC of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, were felicitated at the event. The two universities had secured top National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings and National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) grades.Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Arlekar shared a dais on Sunday amid the standoff over the display of Bharat Matha image at official events and the assent withheld on a number of bills passed by the State Legislative Assembly. Published - September 28, 2025 02:30 pm IST
