Arif Mohammed Khan sworn in as 22nd Governor of Kerala
Arif Mohammed Khan was sworn in as the 22nd Governor of Kerala on Friday, where he was administered the oath by Kerala High Court Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy at the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram. He took the oath in both Malayalam and English.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Arif Mohammed Khan’s wife Reshma were present at the ceremony. Pinarayi Vijayan had met him at Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening.
Arif Mohammed Khan has now replaced P Sathasivam. Former Chief Justice of India Sathasivam had assumed charge in 2014 and completed his tenure on September 4.
Arif was a cabinet minister in the Janata Dal government under VP Singh in 1989-1990. Arif quit the Indian National Congress in 1986 owing to the differences with the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government's stand on the Shah Bano case.
Arif defended the Supreme Court judgement on the case which favoured alimony for divorced Muslim women in Parliament.
Arif began his career as a student leader and became a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly at the age of 26. He became a member of the Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1984, and won both times on a Congress ticket.
In 1986, he left the Congress after differences with then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and joined the Janata Dal. He was elected as MP from the Janata Dal in 1989 and then became a Cabinet Minister. Later, he also left the Janata Dal and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Arif later joined the BJP in 2004 to quit three years later.
His appointment is part of the governor appointments made by President Ram Nath Kovind on September 1. The other appointees were Tamil Nadu BJP Chief Tamilsai Soundarajan as the Governor of Telangana, Himachal Pradesh Governor Kalraj Mishra as the Governor of Rajasthan, former Uttarakhand BJP chief Bhagat Singh as the Governor of Maharashtra and former Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatraya as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.