West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has said that if there is a constitutional, legal or political crisis, the Governor should not vacillate in his stand like Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He was speaking at the convocation ceremony of Rabindra Bharati University at the Jorasanko campus.

“If there is a constitutional, legal or political crisis, the Governor will not be like Shakespeare’s Hamlet who says: ‘To be or not to be’,” the Governor said. The Governor and the state government have been at loggerheads over a decision taken by the former last month.

A high-level three-member committee was formed by Governor Bose, who is the Chancellor of all state universities. The Vice-Chancellors of all the state universities were directed to send weekly reports to this committee on the overall functioning of the universities,

Reacting to Bose’s comments on Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: “We respect the Governor’s chair. However, we must understand that universities are run by the Education department. Earlier, there were 12 universities; now, there are 42. Now, if the Governor asks the Vice-Chancellors to submit reports every week, it is not possible. Will the VCs submit reports or look after the universities?”