Mita Mukherjee
Visva-Bharati on Wednesday night installed a new board on the campus mentioning the name of Rabindranath Tagore as the founder of the university and removed the plaques that omitted the name of the bard erected in October to commemorate the Unesco heritage tag on Santiniketan.
The previous plaques installed during the tenure of the former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, contained only the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also the chancellor of the Visva-Bharati which is a central university and of Chakrabarty as the vice-chancellor.
The new board states: ” Established in rural West Bengal in 1901 by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore ……Santiniketan became a cradle of learning and education firmly rooted in India’s classical traditions, aspiring to a concept of universal humanity…..A World University’, Visva-Bharati ….was established at Santiniketan in 1921, recognizing the unity of humanity.”
After the controversy over omission of the bard’s name on the previous plaques, the authorities had clarified following an instruction from the ministry education that the the plaques would be removed.
The plaques earlier installed by the former vice-chancellor had evoked strong protests not just from locals and ashramites but also from political parties including the ruling Trinamul Congress. Chief minister, Mamata Banerjee too had opposed the omission and urged the centre to replace the plaques with new ones bearing the name of Tagore.
The Santiniketan Trust, the custodian of around 15.3 acres of the Visva-Bharati campus filed an FIR against Chakrabarty for installing the plaques without taking permission from the trust.
Opposition leaders including Suvendu Adhikari too had opposed commission of Tagore’s name on the plaques.
