The faceoff between West Bengal government and the Raj Bhawan intensified with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accusing the Governor of overstepping constitutional jurisdiction and urged him to give nod to legislations replacing her as the Chancellor of universities in the State.
“The post of Governor is a Constitutional post. The activities of the Governor are defined in the Constitution. He cannot interfere in everything.. He says that he is doing what the Chief Minister is doing. Then you should form a political party and contest polls or contest polls on a BJP ticket..,” Ms. Banerjee said while addressing a public meeting at Jhargram.
The State government and the Raj Bhawan has been at loggerheads over appointments of Vice Chancellors and last year the State Assembly had passed a number legislation replacing the Governor with Chief Minister as Chancellor of State Universities.
“The Governor should sign the Bill passed in the Assembly which allowed the appointment of the Chief Minister as the Chancellor of Universities. The earlier laws were made as per the reality during the British regime. There were only 3 universities at that point whereas there are 44-45 universities now,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Recently the Governor has appointed officiating VCs without allegedly consulting the State government which includes a retired High Court Judge and retired IPS officer. “. The eligibility for the post of vice-chancellor includes the experience of 10 years as a professor. However, a retired IPS officer from Kerala was appointed as vice-chancellor at Aliah University,” Ms. Banerjee said.
Referring to vacant posts of Vice Chancellor and Registrar at Jhargram University, the Chief Minister said the moment she sends the file, the Governor will appoint a BJP sympathiser to the post.
The Chief Minister who has resumed her district visits after suffering a foot injury in the last week of June 2023 also touched on three language policies of the State government with stress on learning Bengali and added that some “ people are making baseless comments”.
“.During our cabinet discussion, we opted for the three-language formula. Under this, the mother language will be the first language whereas students can choose the second and third languages,” Ms. Banerjee said. A section of leaders from Darjeeling hills have opposed the move saying that the State government was trying to impose Bengali language.
The Chief Minister stressed that nothing was being imposed and explained that for those who study in Bengali-medium schools, their first language is Bengali and other two languages can be anything of their choice – English, Hindi, Bengal, Gurmukhi, Nepali, or Alchiki .
“For instance, in Darjeeling, there are many Nepali-medium schools. They will continue studying in Nepali and opt for two additional subjects as per their choice. Similarly, in Rajbangshi schools, students will study Rajbanshi as the first subject, and the other two subjects are based on the choice of the student. Nothing is being imposed on anyone,” she added.
Ms. Banerjee arrived in Jhargram on Tuesday and has been meeting members of tribal communities and on Wednesday spoke about the initiatives of her government aimed towards tribal communities. Ms. Banerjee touched on the demand for Scheduled Tribes ( ST) status raised by members of Kurmi communities.
“I have asked my Kurmi brothers and sisters to develop their language, tradition, culture, and heritage. But Scheduled Tribes (communities already having ST status) and Kurmis should not follow the riots model propagated by BJP in Manipur,” she said, adding that her government has forwarded Kurmi community’s request to the Centre and the issue was not in her hands
A few months ago members of the Kurmi community had organised protests in the State’s Jangalmahal region demanding ST status, blocking railway stations and highways.
EOM
