BJP today accused Jadavpur university vice-chancellor Suranjan Das of acting like a Trinamool Congress (TMC) appointee and attacked him for not taking action against those students who had raised "anti-India slogans".
Das denied the charge and said he never acted on any political agenda.
Criticising Das, BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said, "He is a vice-chancellor of a university where anti-India slogans were raised and conspiracy was hatched to divide the country. As the VC, why has he failed to identify the students who have raised such slogans? What is stopping him to take action against them?"
"Governor is the constitutional head of the state and is also the Chancellor of the university. So how come the VC is yet to submit a report even after the governor had sought it," he told PTI here.
"The VC has failed to inculcate nationalism in his students. He is acting like a TMC appointee and is working on behalf of them," Singh alleged.
Reacting to Singh's claim, Das said, "It is not correct to make such a statement about a VC. I felt hurt. I never acted on any political agenda. I always tried to rise above politics and work with the interests of the university in mind and in future also I will do it".
"I was the VC during the tenure of Left government. The Chancellor appoints Vice-chancellor. If he feels that one has the required qualification, he appoints him. Politics should not be brought into it".
"India is a democratic country where everyone has the freedom of expression," the VC said, adding "he (Singh) also used that right to make such statement."
Condemning the "anti-India sloganeering" inside Jadavpur University campus, Governor K N Tripathi, on Wednesday had sought a report on the incident from Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee and the Vice Chancellor.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said, "If BJP were in power in the state then we would have arrested the anti-nationals, irrespective of students and teachers, and have pulled them by the collar".
