Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali poet, whose prose and poetry were later adapted into films by Satyajit Ray, cementing his place as an immemorial icon of Hindi cinema. Tagore was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for literature. Tagore was one of his kind who proposed that if a student wanted to climb up a tree while studying, he or she must be allowed to do so and then welcomed back to the class.
Based on his version of education, Tagore founded, in 1901, an experimental school in rural West Bengal at Shantiniketan. There, he sought to blend the best of Indian and Western traditions, thus keeping Indianness intact. The school later became the Viswa Bharati University, whose legacy is threatened under Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has chosen to side with a left-liberal rather than Rabindranath Tagore.
The tussle between Amartya Sen and Viswa Bharati
As reported earlier by TFI, the Viswa Bharati University in December 2020 named Nobel laureate Amartya Sen as an illegal occupant of the land belonging to the university campus in Shantiniketan. Now, in January of this year, the entire matter got hyped after the University and Sen exchanged letters on the same.
As per the allegations, Sen has occupied 13 decimals extra to 125 decimals, which were actually allotted to his family. On January 24, 2023, the university asked Sen to return the plot. On January 27, the university issued a second letter with the same demand.
Is Amartya Sen an illegal occupant?
Kshitimohan Sen, a Sanskrit scholar and maternal grandfather of Amartya Sen, played a key role in building the Visva Bharati alongside Tagore. Since the time of Tagore, plots on the university campus have been given to many eminent people on a 99-year lease. Land was given to the Sen family too. While Kshitimohan Sen was the second Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati, Amartya’s father, Ashutosh Sen, served as a professor at the university.
Amartya Sen was born at Shantiniketan and grew up in Pratichi, the house built by his father. He was named Amartya by Tagore himself. It is said that while building Pratichi, Ashutosh Sen purchased some of the land, that has become the centre of dispute.
As per the statement of the university, only 1.25 acres were leased to the late Ashutosh Sen. The statement reads, “the information and documents shared with Prof Sen vide our letters dated 24-01-2023 and 27-01-2023 make it amply clear that 1.38-acre land was never leased to late Ashutosh Sen [Amartya’s father].”
Also read: Nationalism Lessons from Tagore ’s life and work
Mamata Banerjee backs Sen
In the midst of all of this, the Trinamool Congress and its leader, Mamata Banerjee, saw it as an opportunity to score political brownie points by blaming the Bhartiya Janata Party. Banerjee personally visited Sen in Pratichi and handed over a state land and revenue department record, stating that 1.38 acres of land covered by Sen’s ancestral property belong to him by virtue of a mutation executed in 2006, despite the university’s denial.
Banerjee not only handed over the document but also announced Z+ security for Sen and attacked Viswa Bharati’s Vice Chancellor, blaming him for the “saffronisation” of the university.
“I have been silently watching how an eminent citizen was being insulted all these days. I asked my officers to get the land records. I gave him proof that the land was transferred to his father in 1943. No man in the garb of the Bharatiya Janata Party should insult Amartya Sen. We look at Visva-Bharati through the eyes of Tagore, not through a saffron lens,” said Banerjee.
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“Better Off Without Your Blessings”: VBU to Banerjee
The meddling of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the matter has triggered a political storm in the state along with exposing the true colours of TMC. The university has, however, refused to surrender under any political pressure. In its statement, the university said, “Visva Bharati is a central university. We are better off without your blessings because we are used to the margdarshan (guidance) of the Prime Minister.”
Visva-Bharati, the globally famous educational institution, holds on to the legacy of education and cultural transcendence envisioned by Tagore himself. However, by backing the pro-poverty alleged economist, Mamata Banerjee has clearly announced her priorities and vision for the state.
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