Published 09:18 IST, December 22nd 2019
West Bengal Governor blames 'non-state actors' for cancellation of scheduled programmes
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday alleged that several of his scheduled programmes had been cancelled due to pressure from 'non-state actors'.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday alleged that several of his scheduled programmes had been cancelled just like the Jadavpur University convocation ceremony. Pinning the blame on “arm-twisting” by “non-state actors”, he also questioned the silence of the civil society on this issue. Moreover, he revealed that all communications of the Vice-Chancellors of the respective universities had to be routed through the secretary of the department. Casting aspersions over the rationale of this move, he termed this as “ex-facie unconstitutional".
Jadavpur University convocation ceremony deferred
Governor Dhankhar’s tweets come in the wake of the Jadavpur University postponing its convocation ceremony scheduled for December 24. Being the Chancellor of the University, Dhankhar’s presence was confirmed at the event. After he put his signature on the honoris causa scrolls to be awarded to Sankha Ghosh, Salman Haidar, CR Rao, and Sanghamitra Bandopadhyay, the University Executive Council decided to defer the convocation in an urgent meeting on Saturday. Reportedly, the varsity took this call to avoid any untoward incident as the Arts Faculty Students’ Union had announced a boycott of the event owing to Dhankhar’s presence. In the last few weeks, both the Governor as well as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have clashed over the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Updated 10:00 IST, December 22nd 2019