BENGAL GOVERNOR FACES STUDENTS’ PROTEST
KOLKATA: A students’ protest forced West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to leave the Calcutta University (CU) before the beginning of the university’s annual convocation on Tuesday. Dhankhar had to leave the Jadavpur University in similar circumstances last month when he had gone there to preside over its convocation.
Students at CU carrying posters against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens waved black flags at Dhankhar and raised “go back” slogans as soon as he arrived at the convocation venue. Dhankhar met Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee, upon whom the CU on Tuesday conferred honorary D Litt (honoris causa), before another group of students took the stage, raised slogans against Dhankhar and prompted the governor to leave the venue minutes before the convocation started.
The protesters kept insisting that Dhankhar does not deserve to be on the dais for the CU’S convocation as he is the Centre’s representative.
CU vice chancellor (VC), Sonali Chakravarty Bandhopadhyay,
unsuccessfully tried to convince the students to end their protests. “VC sought permission from Chancellor to proceed with the Convocation. In view of the enormous respect I have for Abhijit Banerjee and mindful of the reputation of the iconic Calcutta University, I accorded the same,” tweeted Dhankhar, who is also the CU’S chancellor. “Those who compromised culture and decorum need to be in a reflective mode.”
A CU official, who did not want to be named, said an invitation was sent to Dhankhar on Monday primarily because he had not signed Banerjee’s certificate even though he had approved the decision to confer the Dlitt upon him.
Reacting to the incident, state education minister Partha Chatterjee said that the governor needed to introspect why he was constantly facing student agitations. “Maintaining the sanctity of a chair is the responsibility of the person occupying it,” Chatterjee said.
BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh, however, sought Chatterjee’s resignation. “Anarchy has gripped campuses of all colleges and universities in the state. Why is the education minister still holding on to his chair?” said Ghosh.