Arif Mohammed Khan, the governor of Kerala, claimed on Saturday that his state was taking Punjab’s place as the ‘capital of drugs’ and that he was ashamed that Kerala’s two primary sources of income were gaming and alcohol.
While everyone was supporting campaigns against alcohol use, Governor Khan said Kerala was encouraging its use. Governor Khan and the Left government are at odds over a number of topics, including admissions to universities.
‘Here, we have decided that lottery and alcohol is enough for our development. What a shameful situation for a state which has 100 per cent literacy. I, as the head of the state, feel ashamed that the two main sources of revenue of my state are lottery and alcohol. What is a lottery? Has any one of you sitting here ever bought a lottery ticket. Only very poor people buy lottery tickets. You are robbing them. You are making your people addicted to alcohol,’ Governor Khan said.
Speaking at a book launch, Governor Khan claimed that because Kerala encourages the sale of liquor, it is ‘replacing Punjab as the capital of drugs.’ ‘Everybody carries campaigns against liquor consumption. Here liquor consumption is being encouraged. What a shame,’ Governor said.
The Kerala Governor and state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan engaged in verbal sparring in September, with the former attacking the LDF-controlled government for the state’s heavily dependent on lottery and liquor sales for revenue.
Governor Khan took up the matter of the vice chancellors’ nominations to the various institutions in Kerala on Saturday. He claimed that the Supreme Court had previously made it clear that the governor was in charge of making the vice chancellor selections.
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