'Won't Be Provoked': As Leaders Slam Heckling Incident at Jadavpur University, Babul Supriyo Remains Calm

Kolkata/New Delhi: After being heckled by a section of students at Jadavpur University, Union minister Babul Supriyo said that he will not be provoked despite such incidents.

"I will not find anything that provokes me. The role of the opposition in keeping democracy alive is as important as that of the ruling party, and it is necessary to listen to the differences patiently. Such behavior is inappropriate and reprehensible," he tweeted late on Thursday.

Senior Karnataka BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje slammed the incident as "hypocrisy of liberal brigade".

Supriyo was on Thursday shown black flags and heckled by a section of students at Jadavpur University, who also stopped him from leaving the campus prompting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to rush to JU along with a large police force. The governor, who is the chancellor of the university, too faced demonstrations by the students belonging to SFI, Left leaning AFSU and FETSU and AISA, a naxalite sudents wing and a few members of the TMCP, university sources said.

They blocked his way and thumped the bonnet of his vehicle as the policemen kept requesting them to withdraw while the governor was seen helping Babul Supriyo to the vehicle. Dhankhar and Babul Supriyo finally left the campus late in the evening hours after university teachers stepped in and persuaded the agitating students to lift their blockade, a spokesman of Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) said.

Meanwhile, stick-wielding supporters of ABVP, who had held a seminar in the campus during the day which sparked off the unrest at the university, vandalised the room of the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU). Shouting 'Jai Shree Ram' and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', the ABVP supporters were seen setting fire to furniture, computers and ceiling fans of the room and covering the signage outside it with black colour. They even painted ABVP on the wall of the room and burnt tyres before gate number four of JU.

The Trinamool Congress later criticised Governor Jagdeep Dhankar for his "partisan approach" in blaming the West Bengal government for the Jadavpur University fiasco, terming it "unfortunate and shocking" that he went to campus without informing the ruling dispensation.

"This is most unfortunate and shocking that our Governor, the custodian of the Constitution of the State, without informing the elected government, went to the so-called rescue of the BJP leader from Jadavpur University," Chatterjee said in a statement.

(With inputs from PTI)