Numerous students and staff at Jadavpur University in India’s West Bengal state on Monday greeted the visiting governor of the state with "Go Back" slogans as part of their demonstration against him for supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
They showed him black flags and blocked his path, just as Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s cavalcade arrived at the university campus for an official meeting.
#WATCH West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar shown black flags and posters of 'BJP activist Mr Jagdeep Dhankar Go back' by students on his arrival at Jadavpur University for the convocation ceremony. pic.twitter.com/PLlPJlabAU
— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2019
Demonstrators also alleged that Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had failed to show impartiality as a holder of the high post.
Holding placards that branded him as “Padmapal” (lotus – symbol of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, which is an opposition party in West Bengal state), the students criticised the governor, who also happens to be the ex-officio chancellor of the university, for supporting the new citizenship Act of the country and “favouring BJP”.
A Trinamool Congress-affiliated (the state’s governing party) staff association and students belonging to left-wing unions are demanding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was recently passed by the Indian parliament, be revoked.
The strained relationship between the governor and the state government led by Mamata Banerjee has often come out in the open, as both have publicly disagreed and faced stand-offs, majorly on the new legislation.
“I am extremely anguished that CM (chief minister) and Ministers are to spearhead rally against CAA, law of the land. This is unconstitutional. I call upon CM to desist from this unconstitutional and inflammatory act at this juncture and devote to retrieve the grim situation”, the governor stated in a tweet.
.@MamataOfficial. I am extremely anguished that CM and Ministers are to spearhead rally against CAA, law of the land. This is unconstitutional. I call upon CM to desist from this unconstitutional and inflammatory act at this juncture and devote to retrieve the grim situation.
— Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) December 16, 2019
While the state government has refused to implement the new law, the governor has often come out in support of it.
The university students have also been at loggerheads with him in the past. In December, the students boycotted a convocation, refusing to accept their degrees from Dhankhar at the scheduled ceremony.
The new Citizenship Amendment Act grants citizenship to non-Muslim minority immigrants, who fled persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, and arrived in India before 31 December 2014.
