In wrapping up his policy address in a little over one minute on January 25 (Thursday), Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan made the shortest policy speech to date in the Kerala Assembly.
The ‘record’ so far was the one made by then Governor Jothi Venkatachalam at the seventh session of the sixth Kerala Assembly on January 29, 1982. Assembly records show that Jothi Venkatachalam’s policy address had lasted six minutes.
Back then, the Governor had wound up her speech following Opposition uproar in the House over certain political developments in Kerala. K. Karunakaran was the Chief Minister at the time.
On Thursday, Mr. Khan’s speech lasted about one minute and 20 seconds. After reading the first paragraph, he said, “And now, I’m reading the last para,” and then proceeded to do so.
There have been instances of Governors leaving out sections in the prepared policy speech. That said, the Governor has the liberty to make additions or omissions in the text prepared by the State government. The Governor also can conclude his/her speech by not reading out the text in its entirety. Even if the Governor tables the speech after reading parts of it, the text would still be considered to have been read in its entirety, according to an earlier ruling in the House.
The topic of the Governor’s policy address has also given rise to some interesting questions in the Kerala Assembly.
For instance, on March 3, 1969, then Chief Minister E.M.S. Namboodiripad presented a resolution in the Kerala Assembly concerning a development in the West Bengal Assembly where the then Governor Dharma Vira had left out certain portions in his address. Namboodiripad’s unusual step gave rise to a point of order on the grounds that discussing the development in another State Assembly could amount to breach of privilege. The then Speaker, however, had defended the decision to allow the presentation of the resolution.
Article 176(1) of the Constitution requires the Governor to address the State Assembly at the “commencement of the first session after each general election to the Legislative Assembly and at the commencement of the first session of each year.”
