Visva-Bharati staff ‘ordered’ to join march seeking V-C extension, varsity denies charge

The university authorities, however, denied the allegation, claiming that no such march was planned.

Sources said members of the multi-tasking staff wrote to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan that they were directed by the university authorities to join the proposed march and that their salaries were also stopped.

Visva-Bharati Faculty Association secretary Sudipta Bhattacharya said, “We have no connection with the multi-tasking staff. But they also sent a copy to our association of the email that they sent to the Union Education Minister alleging that they were being forced to join the march.”

A senior faculty member of the university said, “It is true that Bidyut Chakrabarty had planned to organise a march wherein the multi-tasking staff members were to raise slogans seeking to get an extension for him. But now it seems that the march will be cancelled after the email.”

Recently, a controversy broke out at the university over the absence of the name of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore from the plaques put up by the institution’s authorities after Santiniketan earned a coveted spot on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

At a press conference last week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee issued an ultimatum to the university demanding that Tagore’s name be put on the plaques in a day or face protests by the Trinamool Congress.

Following this, the ruling party’s Birbhum district unit started a sit-in at Santiniketan. Later, Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ex officio Chancellor of the university, requesting to get the mistake rectified.

Reacting to a question on the controversy, Governor CV Ananda Bose on Wednesday said any instance of Tagore’s memory being “obliterated or ignored” was not welcome.

“There are certain values that we cannot compromise on at any cost. Kaviguru Rabindranath Tagore is for everyone in Bharat who sings the Jana Gana Mana (National Anthem). Gurudev is an emotion felt in our blood and hearts,” the Governor told the media in Kolkata.

He added, “Gurudev has enjoyed the highest respect in the minds of all Indians. There is no question of any manner, overtly or covertly, obliterating the valued and sacred memory of Gurudev.”

BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, who usually is at odds with the TMC, has also condemned the varsity’s move, saying, “If Tagore’s name is there, it should be put there. There can be no Visva-Bharati without Rabindranath. The error should be rectified at the earliest.”