Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan congratulating Arif Mohammed Khan after he was sworn in as Governor at Raj Bavan on Friday. His wife Reshma Arif looks on.
He succeeds P. Sathasivam as State’s 22nd Governor
Arif Mohammed Khan was sworn in as the 22nd Governor of Kerala at a solemn function at Raj Bhavan here on Friday.
Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Hrishikesh Roy administered the oath of office to Mr. Khan in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Governor took the oath first in Malayalam in the name of God and later in English.
Ministers, MPs, MLAs, top civil and defence officials and family members of the new Governor, including wife Reshma Arif, were present at the function.
Mr. Khan succeeds P. Sathasivam who completed his five-year tenure the other day.
Mr. Khan was born at Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh on November 18, 1951. He took his BA (Honours) from Aligarh Muslim University and LLB from Lucknow University.
Student leader
Mr. Khan started his political career as a student leader and led the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union as general secretary during 1972-73 and was its president during 1973-74. He became a member of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 1977 at the age of 26 representing Siyana.
Mr. Khan was elected to the seventh Lok Sabha from Kanpur in 1980 and represented Bahraich in the 8th, 9th and 12th Lok Sabha. As Union Minister, Mr. Khan held the portfolios of Energy and Civil Aviation during 1989-90.
Shah Bano case
He grabbed the headlines in 1986 when he quit the Rajiv Gandhi Ministry in protest against the government’s stand on the Shah Bano case.
A voracious reader, Mr. Khan is the author of Text and Context: Quran and Contemporary Challenges. He is also a well-known writer and columnist.
Mr. Khan has two sons: Mustafa Arif, who is a lawyer, and Kabir Arif, a pilot by profession who is into organic farming.