West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was shown black flags and greeted with “go back” slogans at Jadavpur University on Monday when he arrived on the campus to attend a meeting.
The protest was held a day after the Governor, who is the Chancellor of State universities, declared as “illegal and invalid” the varsity’s decision to defer the December 24 special convocation because of possible trouble. A large number of students blocked his car and the Governor had a difficult time stepping out of his vehicle.
When he was leaving the campus, Mr. Dhankhar was asked certain questions by the agitating students. They wanted to know his opinion on the Citizenship ( Amendment) Act which the students said “violated the Constitution”. The students also claimed that 25 people had died during anti-CAA protests across the country and asked why the Governor has not said anything on the vandalising of JU campus allegedly by supporters of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad earlier this year.
All for autonomy’
Mr. Dhankhar encouraged the students to send a memorandum to him and said that he was willing to interact with them. “I am not a representative of any government but of the Constitution,” he said.
The Governor said he is concerned about the well-being of the students and “all for autonomy of universities”.
The university Vice-Chancellor, Suranjan Das, said the convocation will be held as scheduled on Tuesday morning. To a question, he said, “If the Chancellor comes, he will preside over the convocation and if he presides, he will also speak.”
(With inputs from PTI)
