Students should not have pushed JU VC: WB governor

West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi Monday criticised a section of agitating students of the Jadavpur University for heckling Vice-Chancellor Prof Suranjan Das, saying they should not have pushed him.

Das had fallen down in front of the administrative building of the University on February 19 during a scuffle between two groups of students. He was hospitalised for two days following the incident.

"The students should not have pushed the VC under any circumstances. The students should not ever hit their teacher, their VC," Tripathi told reporters on the sidelines of the convocation of the West Bengal State University in Barasat near here.

Asked to comment on the heckling of Das, the governor said the students "should not be involved in any conduct which will go against the spirit of their respective institute".

Tripathi, however, said he had nothing against the student community unitedly agitating to press for their demands on academic matters.

The incident involving the JU VC took place during a scuffle between members of unions of the faculties of arts, science, and engineering and technology on one side and those belonging to the Trinamool Chhatro Parishad (TMCP), the students' wing of the ruling party, on the other.

The AFSU, SFSU and FETSU were demanding tripartite talks with the government to facilitate students' union polls, the TMCP called for steps to halt "illegal activities in the campus after dusk," and installation of CCTV cameras.

Both sides went near Das as he came out of an Executive Committee meeting, and in the melee, the VC tripped.

The VC had said he felt "insulted after being heckled by the students," but refused to identify those behind the incident and take action against them as asked by Education Minister Partha Chatterjee who visited him at hospital.

Apparently miffed over this refusal, Chatterjee told reporters Monday, "What can the education minister do if the VC doesn't listen to his advice? The minister is helpless.