Governor tries to ignore boycott, protests, black flags, forced to leave Jadavpur University without participating in convocation

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar reached Jadavpur University yet again on Tuesday morning, after he was shown black flags and “go back” slogans on Monday.

Dhankhar went to the university gate on Tuesday morning – where the convocation is scheduled – and was stopped by protestors carrying black flags, who shouted “go back” slogans. The protestors were mostly non-teaching staff of the university.

Dhankhar sat in the vehicle for over an hour, and went on posting one tweet after another from his vehicle, describing the situation at Jadavpur University. He said if Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das was unable to bring the situation under control, he should step down. Dhankhar also claimed that the situation in Bengal was “worrisome”, and the situation in Jadavpur University “politically controlled”.

Eventually, he left the area – his vehicle was outside the gate – and the convocation was started in his “absence”, after an official decision was taken by the university authorities.

Several student bodies had called for a boycott of the convocation if it is attended Dhankhar. The students’ bodies had submitted a memorandum on this to university Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das on Friday. On Saturday, at a meeting, it was decided that the convocation will be held on the scheduled date, but only students will be awarded their degrees. The program of awarding honorary degrees to eminent persons won’t take place since the Governor won’t be attending it.

However, the Governor went to the University on Monday saying this could not be done legally. He was gheraoed by students for close to an hour, and Dhankhar had to face students to answer some of their questions.

He was asked to clarify his stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), but Dhankhar said that he would discuss this issue in specific details at Raj Bhawan if the students visited his office. He also refused to condemn the killings in Uttar Pradesh (allegedly by police firing on protestors, though police officially denied this) or the police entering Jamia Millia Islamia University library and their torture of the students – these were some of the questions the students placed before the Governor. Dhankhar said he would answer only questions relating to Bengal.