Vijayan condemns appointment of new KCHR chairman

Thiruvananthapuram, Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday slammed the state government's decision to appoint an allegedly "unqualified" person as the Chairperson of the Kerala Council of Historical Research .

Terming it a "highly condemnable" move to sabotage the appointment to the post, Vijayan, in a statement, claimed that the names recommended by the search committee were arbitrarily cut out and a person not considered by the panel was appointed instead.

Vinodkumar Kallolickal, currently Professor at the Department of History, Maharaja's College in Ernakulam, has been appointed as the chairman of KCHR.

The CPI veteran alleged that the appointment was carried out following the direct intervention of the Principal Secretary of Higher Education and claimed that it was part of the agenda to saffronise KCHR.

Senior IAS officer B Ashok is the current principal secretary of the Higher Education Department and was suspended by the previous LDF administration in April this year for public criticism of government policies and social media remarks.

Neither the government nor the concerned minister have reacted to the allegations by the opposition leader.

Vijayan, in his statement, further claimed that professors Sanal Mohan and Dr V J Varghese, who are members of the search committee constituted by the UDF government, have protested against the undemocratic action by submitting their dissent notes to the government.

"In addition, the resignation of eminent historians professors Janaki Nair, Lakshmi Subramanian and Manu V Devadevan from the KCHR executive committee also highlights the seriousness of the situation," he said.

He claimed that the RSS has tried to saffronise the Indian Council of Historical Research whenever it comes to power at the Centre,

The LoP contended that just like the appointment of RSS pracharaks at the head of the ICHR when the NDA came to power in 2015, a similar agenda is now being implemented in Keralam under the UDF government.

He also alleged that the same official who worked with the Governor against the government when the bill to remove the Governor from the post of Chancellor was passed, during the time of the LDF government, is now implementing the RSS agenda in the KCHR.

"The news that the Higher Education Minister has personal interests behind this also adds to the mystery," he contended and demanded an immediate review of the government's decision to install an allegedly unqualified person as the head of KCHR.

Vijayan contended that Keralam will definitely resist such moves that have the potential to destroy the state's higher education sector and historical research institutions.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.