West Bengal Governor Keshri Nath Tripathi today urged teachers and students of Calcutta University, where professors were allegedly assaulted by Trinamool Congress activists, to sit together and find out ways to restore normalcy.
"Suranjan Das (vice-chancellor) has expressed his opinion. I think that the teachers and students should sit together and devise ways and means to restore normalcy in the university," the Governor told reporters here.
"The main object of the university is to teach and the main object of the students is to learn," he said.
Vice-Chancellor Suranjan Das had yesterday urged the state government to take action against those involved in Wednesday's assault and that it would not be possible for him to work as VC if action was not taken on the basis of his report.
"I have submitted a report regarding the incident to the Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. In my confidential report, I have clearly stated what happened on that fateful day, who got assaulted and who were involved in the assault. I have also said that if action is not taken then it would be impossible for me to act as a VC and that it would hamper governance," Das told a Bengali news channel.
Meanwhile, state BJP President Rahul Sinha, who met Tripathi at Raj Bhavan along with other party leaders, alleged that the "assault" was "pre-planned and a ploy to cover up a financial irregularity of over crores of rupees at the university."
"Now the focus has been successfully diverted from the scam to this assault and the change of the vice-chancellor ... People are forgetting the actual issue," he said.
The education minister, he said, has no right to intervene in the affairs of Calcutta University as it is an autonomous body or call the vice-chancellor for a meeting on the issue.
"The Governor is the chancellor of Calcutta University and he is the only person to talk to the Vice-chancellor regarding any issue," he said and demanded Chatterjee's resignation.
He also demanded punishment of the culprits and sought a judicial probe by a sitting or former judge.
TMC MP Sugato Bose, a Gardiner Professor of History at Harvard University, had described the incident as "unfortunate and a blot" and said it should not have happened.
"I have expressed my concern to the Education Minister and he said he will take appropriate steps in this regard. Students should always respect teachers," he had said yesterday.
