Students of Calcutta University in West Bengal allegedly prevented Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, from chairing a convocation programme that was also attended by Nobel laureate Abhijeet Banerjee on January 28.
The students shouted slogans like ‘Go Back’ against the Governor.
The Governor spent around 30 minutes in the guest room backstage with Abhijeet Banerjee and left the venue without stepping foot on the stage.
During the convocation, Calcutta University conferred an honorary doctorate on Banerjee. The award was supposed to be presented by Dhankhar, however, it was finally given by the Vice-Chancellor, Sonali Chakravarty Bondhopadhyay.
Dhankar is the Chancellor of Calcutta University due to him being the Governor of West Bengal.
The Governor arrived at the venue (Nazrul Mancha) at 12:30 pm, where he was faced with students holding posters saying ‘No CAA, No NRC.’
He later headed towards the green room where he met the Nobel laureate. After some time, another section of students started chanting slogans against the Governor, causing him to leave the venue around 1:30 pm.
The Vice-Chancellor, after the convocation, told reporters that a group of students did not want to receive their degrees in the presence of the Governor. She also said that that the administration is relieved as the convocation is over and they handed over the citations to the invited dignitaries and academic degrees to students.
After leaving the event, Dhankar took to Twitter and said there should be no compromise on the immense respect that people have for Abhijeet Banerjee. He also said that he has signed the D.Litt (honoris causa) in the presence of Abhijeet Banerjee, VC and others.
He also took a jibe at the state government and said that there was a total failure of the state machinery to maintain law and order. He called the demonstration ‘stage-managed.’
This is the second time that the Governor was forced to leave the convocation. Last month, the Governor was prevented from entering the convocation site at Jadavpur Univerity.
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