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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\nWest Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee<\/span><\/p>\n KOLKATA: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she and her government were not Raj Bhavan\u2019s \u201cservants\u201d, and their \u201conly job was not to answer the governor\u2019s queries\u201d.
Banerjee\u2019s riposte came around five hours after governor Jagdeep Dhankhar repeated his litany of charges against her government, including its alleged lack of response to his queries.
A livid Banerjee held up a bunch of papers during the press briefing at Nabanna, showing the answers her government had given the governor. \u201cI responded to his queries four times on Wednesday,\u201d she said. \u201cBeshi barabari hochchhe (It is getting too much),\u201d she added, referring to the governor\u2019s charge of a \u201cpolitically caged education\u201d system in Bengal.
Earlier in the day, Dhankhar had threatened to crack the whip on vice-chancellors of state-run universities (of which the governor is chancellor) for giving his virtual conference the miss. He said he would have to set in motion action to \u201cdeal with their (the VCs\u2019) conduct in accordance with the applicable act\u201d, prompting the higher education department to issue a statement that the governor was crossing his brief on grounds that acts and rules could be challenged only in a court of law.
Banerjee accused the governor of speaking like a politician. \u201cI respect the chair he holds, but we also expect some courtesy from him. The governor is speaking like a political party man. It\u2019s getting too much,\u201d she said. \u201cHow many times in a day should I talk to him? We have jobs other than responding to the Centre\u2019s queries. He can question us, can say that a BJP person was murdered before getting the post-mortem report,\u201d the CM hit out.
The governor had also trashed the West Bengal Vice-Chancellors\u2019 Council, terming it a \u201ctrade union\u201d. \u201cNo other state has this forum,\u201d he said. \u201cThis forum has met four times, and on each occasion it was against the chancellor.\u201d The chief minister took strong exception to the comment. \u201cAllow VCs to work with self-respect. Any vindictive action will spark reactions across Bengal,\u201d she said, advising the governor to take a look at the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh universities and central universities such as JNU and Jamia Millia Islamia.
The chief minister also objected to Dhankhar\u2019s asking the VCs to ensure that students do not have to pay beyond the stipulated fees during admission to colleges this year. \u201cThe governor doesn\u2019t know that college admissions have gone online since the last two years,\u201d she pointed out.
The governor said he wanted the government and state universities to come out with a clear action plan on how they were dealing with students\u2019 issues \u2014 from redrawing the academic calendar, deciding on the mode of examination and the degree-awarding process during the pandemic. \u201cI have been in touch with the UGC chairman and have been updating him about the plight of students who keep on posting their anxiety to me,\u201d Dhankhar said.
Banerjee said she had already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to get the UGC to re-examine its revised guidelines issued in July, and restore its earlier guideline that had asked universities and colleges to devise an alternative evaluation process during the pandemic. \u201cThe state government, in consultation with the VCs, has worked out an evaluation method. I would urge the governor to have patience and leave certain things to the administration,\u201d the chief minister said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n