Apologising that he failed in his responsibility as West Bengal Governor and Chancellor to prevent the vandalising of the Baker Laboratory at Presidency University, M K Narayanan on Friday said the incident was a "blot" and should never have happened.
"I accept that as Governor and Chancellor, I have failed in my responsibility to you. I apologise to students of all universities of Kolkata and Bengal for what has happened," Narayanan told an interactive session with the students of the university.
"It is unprecedented and should never have happened. It is a blot on our hopes for the future and our ambitions to make this a centre of excellence," Narayanan, who went around the Baker Laboratory with V-C Malabika Sarkar and departmental heads, said.
"I will wait for what the police investigation reveals.
How the goons entered the university premises. For next few weeks, I will try to put in place a mechanism so that you do not undergo such a trauma," he said.
"I will concentrate (on) how protective measures can be put in place and what can be done to assure the students that it will not recur," Narayanan, a former national security advisor, said.
Advocating more police presence in university campuses, Narayanan said, "My only request to students is to call for more police presence in the campus for better protection.
"I know 99 per cent of the students will like it (police presence). It is the one per cent who are interested in creating trouble," he said.
"Even the worst policeman on the street is a bulwark against vandalism. You can't condemn every policeman. Please try to have some degree of faith on the institution of governance," he said.
The Governor said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose dream project was to turn Presidency University into an institution of excellence, had also expressed concern at the vandalism and wanted that such a situation did not recur.
He visited the university following a student-teacher delegation yesterday urging him to see for himself the extent of damage as also on a request by the vice-chancellor.