West Bengal governor M.K. Narayanan on Friday lost his cool during the closing ceremony of the Burdwan University’s Golden Jubilee celebrations on Friday when he found many students leaving the auditorium due to the oppressive heat.
The Gulab Bagh auditorium was packed to capacity when the programme began. The temperature was around 38ºC and the excessive humidity made the situation unbearable. Some students later said that unmindful of the audience’s discomfort, vice-chancellor Subrata Pal gave a long speech. In fact, when Prof. Pal had risen to speak, a large number of seats were already vacant. The governor, who was watching this, became extremely unhappy. “I noticed that when the vice-chancellor of the university was delivering his speech in front of distinguished guests, the students at the back rows started leaving. This was unbecoming of the students,” Mr Narayanan said in his address. The chairman of the Karnataka Council for Historical Research, K.N. Panikar, was among the dignitaries at the programme. “There are 130 colleges in five districts under this university which runs 36 post graduate programmes. When the students pass out from here, they earn reputation. So it is important for them to listen to their vice-chancellor patiently. It is the duty of the deans of Arts and Science to control the situation,” the governor added. Red-faced over the students’ behaviour, the varsity authorities barred the media from going close to the governor.