On New Year's Eve, the Student Federation of India (SFI) in Kerala escalated their demonstration against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan by setting a 30-foot-tall effigy of the governor on fire, as reported by several media agencies.
At the Kannur district's Payyambalam beach, SFI activists assembled and erected a 30-foot-tall governor effigy.
According to the SFI, they organized the rally in opposition to the appointment of right-wing Hindu activists to state university senates.
Anushree told the reporters that the effigy was set ablaze in the hopes that the Governor would not push a social agenda in the state's higher education system in the coming year.
"We are protesting his communal agenda," she told to PTI. She went on to say that the reason Payyambalam beach was selected for the demonstration was because it is home to the memorial for prominent communists in Kerala's north Kerala area, including the illustrious A K Gopalan.
Tension escalated between state government and governor
This, combined with a string of demonstrations by the SFI, the student branch of the ruling CPI(M), further escalated tensions between the Governor and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government.
Citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that nullified Gopinath Ravindran's reappointment as vice-chancellor of Kannur University, Khan has maintained that he is being targeted since the state government and the SFI no longer have authority over the state's universities.
