JU students escalate feud with Governor, ‘rusticate him’

Days after Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was shown black flags by a section of students of Jadavpur University, two students’ bodies of the university, the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) and Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students Union (FETSU), said that he was being “rusticated” from his position of the Chancellor in an open letter addressed to him.

In the letter titled ‘Letter of Rustication to Kindly Terminate Your Hon’ble Services, Effective Immediately’ and addressed to ‘To The Hon’ble Ex-Chancellor’, the student bodies alleged that the Governor was present on university premises in the evening of September 19 “along with miscreants who hurled bombs, sexually assaulted women and vandalised sections of the university”.

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“Furthermore, you arrived uninvited to Jadavpur University on 22.12.2019. We have investigated your behaviour and motives and come to the conclusion that they are shameless attempts to seek attention from students, thereby wasting our valuable time. Furthermore, on 23.12.2019, as part of the ongoing evaluation of university officials by students, you were asked a number of questions about the NRC, NPR, CAA; the SC/ST Commission, violence unleashed on Muslim and other students and so on. We have found your responses to these questions unsatisfactory,” said the letter.

Holding the Governor responsible for stirring up violence against the students in Jadavpur University, the letter said, “Keeping the above in mind, you are being informed of your rustication from the position of Chancellor of JU. The students’ body of Jadavpur University has also decided to disown you from the position of the Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal.”

A report card was also attached to the letter which described Mr. Dhankhar’s general knowledge as “less than satisfactory”, said his sense of history was “nil” and overall character “spineless”. “We regret to inform you that we cannot attest to an unblemished record in your character certificate either,” the letter told.

The Governor, who has had frequent run-ins with the Mamata Banerjee government and Jadavpur University students, was shown black flags on Monday when he had gone to the campus to attend the court meeting of the university. His entry was blocked on the next day as well and he had to return without attending the 64th annual convocation.

Slamming the university authorities, especially the vice-chancellor Suranjan Das and the state government for the incident, Mr Dhankhar termed it as a “total collapse of rule of law”. During the convocation, one of the recipients tore up a copy of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Law on stage while receiving her degree. Meanwhile, Congress leader Sanmoy Bandopadhyay has criticised the vicechancellor Suranjan Das for his alleged inaction during the event that unfolded on the day of the convocation