Narayanan apologises to Presidency students, teachers

West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan on Friday apologised to the students and teachers of the PresidencyUniversity for the recent violence on its campus, saying he has "failed" in his responsibility.

Describing the violence as a 'blot' that should never have happened, Narayanan, who is also the chancellor of the university, also assured the students he will work on protective measures so that such incidents do not recur and that they do not have to go through the "trauma" again.

"I accept that as governor and chancellor, I have failed in my responsibility to you. I apologise to students of all universities of Kolkata and Bengal for what has happened," Narayanan told an interactive session with the students of the University after inspecting the historic Baker Laboratory in the varsity premises that faced the brunt of the attack.

The violence on Wednesday was carried out by alleged Trinamool Congress youth wing activists in an apparent retaliation to the gheraoing of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance Minister Alok Mitra in Delhi on Tuesday by CPI-M and SFI activists.

"It is unprecedented and should never have happened. It is a blot on our hopes for the future and our ambitions to make this a centre of excellence," Narayanan said.

The governor went around the Baker Laboratory accompanied by Vice Chancellor Malabika Sarkar, who has alleged that the vandals carried the ruling TC flags during the attack.

"I will wait for what the police investigation reveals. How the goons entered the university premises. For next few weeks, I will try to put in place a mechanism so that you do not undergo such a trauma," he said.

"I will concentrate how protective measures can be put in place and what can be done to assure the students that it will not recur," Narayanan, a former national security advisor, said.

Advocating more police presence in university campuses, Narayanan said, "My only request to students is to call for more police presence in the campus for better protection.

"I know 99 per cent of the students will like it (police presence). It is the one per cent who are interested in creating trouble," he said.

"Even the worst policemen on the street is a bulwark against vandalism. You can't condemn every policeman. Please try to have some degree of faith on the institution of governance," he said.