Kolkata: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday defended his stand of visiting the campus of Jadavpur University on Thursday night and said that being 'the guardian', he has done the right thing as he wanted to 'get connected' with the students.
Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim, however, slammed the Governor and said: "I feel that the move of the Governor does not go with his constitutional post. Our secretary general Partha Chatterjee has already declared our party's stand on the issue."
It may be mentioned Chatterjee had issued a statement on Thursday itself, saying that it was most unfortunate and shocking that the Governor, the custodian of the Constitution of the State, went to the 'so called rescue' of a BJP leader (Supriyo) from JU, without informing the elected government.
The statement mentioned that the Governor had gone there without taking the state government into confidence and on his way, rang up Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"The Chief Minister told him several times that the Governor, being the constitutional head, need not go at this moment. She also requested him to give the government some time to peacefully solve the issue," it mentioned.
Dhankar, who is also the chancellor of the university, said at a programme in the city on Sunday: "There have been talks about my visit to the campus. I have pondered over the matter and I think that being the guardian of the students, I need to be connected with them. I had to have a dialogue with them to understand the situation. So I went to the campus."
He further claimed that he has received a lot of support from the teachers and the students in the university, which ultimately resulted in the situation coming under control.
On Thursday night, after Union minister Babul Supriyo got confined in the university campus amidst protest from pro-Left students, Dhankar went to the campus and brought the minister out of the campus in his own car.
Meanwhile, a female student of the varsity has lodged a fresh complaint against the Union minister, bringing allegation of physical assault against him at Jadavpur police station.
The students had earlier complained to the police that Supriyo had instigated the agitating students that led to violence in the campus.