New Delhi: After posters and banners questioning and criticising Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan were put up in front of the Calicut University guest house where he was staying, the governor has decided that this was done at the “behest” of the state chief minister and went as far as to call it an attempt to “precipitate the breakdown of constitutional machinery”.The Students’ Federation of India, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had earlier announced that Khan would not be allowed into university spaces in the state because of his allegedly undemocratic actions. Khan challenged this by going to stay in the Calicut University guest house on Saturday, prompting the students to use banners as a sign of their protest.The banners accused Khan of doing whatever the Bharatiya Janata Party wants and undermining the state government. According to Hindustan Times, one also called him a “Sanghi” (member of the Sangh parivar).On Sunday (December 17), the Raj Bhavan issued a formal statement in which it blamed chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan for what had happened. “Hon’ble Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has taken a serious note of the action of the state police, on the direction of the Chief Minister, in placing posters defamatory to the Governor in the campus of Calicut University. The black banners and posters have been placed inside the campus and outside the university guest house where the Governor is staying. The Governor feels that this cannot happen without the direction of the Chief Minister and that this clearly is the beginning of the collapse of the constitutional machinery in the state. He said that such deliberate actions of the Chief Minister precipitate the breakdown of constitutional machinery,” the statement said.Posting the governor’s statement on X, CPI(M) MP John Brittas asked, “Who will save this country from Governor Generals?!”According to The Indian Express, the governor has also asked the vice-chancellor of Calicut University to present a report on the matter within 24 hours. It is unclear what rules the governor thinks the students have broken, since peaceful protest is an important part of the history of university campuses across the country.Like in other opposition-ruled states, the Kerala governor has been at loggerheads with the democratically elected state government. The Pinarayi Vijayan government has point out that Khan has been refusing to give his assent to Bills passed by the state assembly, and even the Supreme Court has intervened to say that it is not the role of the governor to come in the way of the law-making process.Universities have been another site of tension, where the governor has been accused of misusing his position as chancellor to change the vice-chancellors of a number of universities. The state government last year came out with an ordinance to replace the governor as the chancellor of the universities and appoint eminent academicians to that post.