KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday said he was “totally shaken” after a “mob” forced him to leave the venue of the Calcutta University convocation on Tuesday, adding that no one can stop him from discharging his duties as the chancellor of state universities.
The constitutional head of the state pointed out that he decided to backtrack on Tuesday after facing the agitation “in the interest of West Bengal” and took the “bullet on his chest”.
Calling it a “black day”, Dhankar said a 163-year-old tradition of the institute was broken when he was forced to leave without awarding Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee.
“I have not missed a single opportunity, whether it is an event in Millennium Park or Republic Day parade on Red Road, to go the extra mile and will continue in that direction. In the interest of West Bengal, someone has to take the bullet on his chest and as a governor, I have taken the bullet,” he said.
Dhankar held the protesters guilty of holding the entire system hostage.
“Can a handful of people be allowed to hold the system hostage? What a tragedy in the land of culture,” he said.
The ruling Trinamool, however, sided with the students who demonstrated against Dhankhar, saying even Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose led protests against a British professor during his student days.