West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday received an honorary D.Litt from the chancellor governor Keshari Nath Tripathi. While speaking at the Calcutta University’s convocation ceremony, she said that she was in two minds whether to accept the degree or not.
“Before coming here I was thinking whether to attend this or not as I have always been disrespected and neglected. Today the respect and appreciation which I got is bigger than all else but I will never use this degree but will keep it as an honour,” she said.
In another interesting development Ranjugopal Mukherjee, an ex-vice chancellor of state-run North Bengal University had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) opposing the degree being conferred upon Mamata. His petition said that the members of the university senate had been appointed by Mamata Banerjee-led state government and it could not confer the degree on her. The degree was conferred on her for her contribution to art, culture and social welfare.
In her speech she also reiterated that attempts were being made to tamper with history and it should be resisted at any cost. “In the last History Congress I had warned against attempts to distort history. There is an increasing intolerance in the country. History should not be distorted. We should respect the diversity of our origin. Today I once again urge everyone to resist any attempt to distort history,” she said.
On December 29, 2017, while speaking at the Indian History Congress she had said that attempts of distorting history was nothing less than a crime.
As the function was in progress, the university’s counsel Saktinath Mukherjee said the senate is the final authority in deciding a D Litt awardee and anybody else is an outsider having no authority to challenge the decision.
Petitioner Ranjugopal Mukherjee, a former professor of the university, has moved the high court, claiming the decision to confer the award on the chief minister was “arbitrary and opaque”.His counsel, Bikas Bhattacharya had yesterday submitted that the issues relating to the university and education itself were of public interest and as such the petition should be treated a PIL.
State Advocate General Kishore Dutta had told a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya and Justice Arijit Banerjee that the decision to confer the honorary degree was taken by the syndicate and senate of the university and there was no sufferance of public interest.