Governor Dhankar laments not being invited to varsity convos

Kolkata: West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, recently famous for being driven out of university campuses, complained on Wednesday that he not being invited to the convocation of a university in North Bengal.

Dhankhar said four ministers of the Mamata Banerjee government have been invited to the third convocation of the Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, but not he, despite having the right to preside over the ceremony. Dhankar is the chancellor of the university.

Dhankar posted a woeful tweet on the matter Wednesday morning.

"Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University Convocation will be held on Feb 14. Ministers Partha Chatterjee, Goutam Deb, Rabindra Nath Ghosh and Binay Krishna Barman are invited for the Convocation. Chancellor, who has right to preside, has just no information ! Where are we heading!"

The invitation card for the convo did not indeed have the chancellor's name. Last year, the then governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was invited to the ceremony.

This snub to the governor comes close on the heels of similar slights he experienced at the Jadavpur and Calcutta varsities.

Unprecedented student protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens at both universities virtually forced him to skip the two convocations.

The development comes in wake of changes made by the Mamata Banerjee government to the West Bengal Universities and College (Administration and Regulation) Act, 2017 ordering vice-chancellors to consult with the state higher education department—and not the chancellor--for any important purpose.

Dhankhar has had frequent run-ins with the Trinamul Congress government over a host of issues, but flights under duress from university campuses have been his speciality.

After being shut out of the Jadavpur University convocation back in December, Dhankar cribbed, “Universities are in captivity and caged by the state government.”

Following the flight from Jadavpur, he called called a meeting of vice-chancellors on January 13. No one turned up.