Jadavpur University students death case: TMC slams appointment of Sau as interim V-C

Training his gun at the Governor, the minister said, “What has the Governor done except disturb the state government? He is only serving the BJP’s agenda and acting as the state BJP president. The BJP in Bengal has no president. The Governor is their party president and Raj Bhavan is their party office. As BJP leaders could not fight with the Trinamool Congress, the Centre has asked the Governor to take up the job. Such Governors will come and go, but Mamata Banerjee will remain.”

Denying the charge, Union Education Minister and BJP MP Dharmendra Pradhan said the Governor is acting as per the constitutional norms. “He (Bose) is definitely discharging his duties as prescribed in the Constitution. I have full faith that he is working as per constitutional norms. He should continue to do what he is doing,” Pradhan said on the sidelines of an event in the city.

State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, however, urged both the TMC and the BJP to refrain from politicising the university’s atmosphere.

“The University Grants Commission is under the Centre. Therefore, it has to ensure that the statutory body’s guidelines are being implemented. At the same time, law and order is under the state government. So, the state has to ensure that it is maintained. There is no scope for politics here. But unfortunately, both the TMC and BJP are playing politics here. They are blaming each other for the incident. The family of the deceased student said they don’t want the incident to be politicised. We want the culprits to be punished. The academic standards of the university must be protected so that the students from Bengal do not leave the state for higher studies,” Chowdhury said.

Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also called for not making the issue a political one. “So many students come to this university (JU) for higher studies. We cannot play with their lives. These students need the right atmosphere for their studies. Instead of playing politics, concrete steps must be taken to curb ragging in the campus.”

On Saturday night, Governor Bose, who is also the chancellor of the state university, appointed Sau as the interim vice-chancellor of the university. “West Bengal Governor and chancellor of the Jadavpur University Dr CV Ananda Bose issued orders authorising Prof Buddhadeb Sau, Department of Mathematics, Javadpur University, to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the Vice-Chancellor of the Jadavpur University with immediate effect,” read a statement issued by Raj Bhavan.