A visibly upset chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while ad to mark the occasion of Teachers’ Day today, issued an open dare to Governor CV Anand Bose.
She said should he not desist from appointing vice-chancellors in defiance of the directives of the state education department, she would be forced to stop disbursal of salaries to the universities, which would create further hurdles.
In the same vein she also threatened that she would not hesitate to sit on a dharna in front of Raj Bhavan to protest the Governor’s alleged design to undermine the atmosphere of studies in the state by unleashing his own agenda.
Miss Banerjee, who distributed awards and citations to the distinguished teachers for their work of excellence and handed over students’ cred- it cards on the occasion of Teachers’ Day, came out with all guns blazing and lunched a scathing attack on the Gov- ernor, who she said was appointing VCs in state universities according his whims and in gross violation of the constitution.
“He had appointed one as an interim VC belonged to the BJP at Jadavpur Univer- sity in a midnight decree. He appointed one former judge as interim VC of Rabindra Bharati University and the Presidency University as well. In this way he was trying to cripple the entire system. We won’t tolerate such an act of sheer caprice in defiance of the state government, which is elected by the people of the state. If you have the liberty to take stranglehold in appointments of VCs, I have the authority to create financial hurdles on disbursal of salaries to those universities who would act in accordance with the Governor’s diktat,” Miss Banerjee said.
Taking a dig further, she said that Governor House’s every expense is borne by the state government. Even the price of a cup of tea that he would arrange to host his guests
from Kerala, is borne by the state government. She also alleged that the Governor was not clearing any Bills sent to him for his assent thus creating constitutional crisis.
She also directed the chief secretary, finance secretary, her ministerial colleagues present on the podium to be battle ready to fight this injustice.
The chief minister also took pot shots at the Centre saying the Centre was acting with hidden agenda to change the name of India. Not only this, it also changing the his- tory of the nation.