Visva-Bharati announced on Wednesday that it would organise Pous Mela this December, after a five-year hiatus, instead of allowing the state government to take the lead as it did last year.

At a high-level meeting led by acting vice-chancellor Binoy Kumar Saren, senior officials reached a consensus that the fair — an important event on the Santiniketan calendar — should be organised by the traditional organisers.

“We have decided to organise the Pous Mela in the way we used to till 2019. The fair will be held on the traditional Purba Pally fairground,” said Atig Ghosh, the university’s acting public relations officer and also a history professor.

The fair traditionally begins on the seventh day of the Pous month in the Bengali lunar calendar, which usually falls on December 22 or 23. In the past, the fair has typically lasted three or four days; however, in some years, it was extended to six days.

“Last year, the state government organised the event on our premises. This time, the Santiniketan Trust will organise it with the help of Visva-Bharati. We will also seek assistance from the state government, as we did until 2019,” Ghosh, who attended the meeting, added.

Despite the Santiniketan Trust — a body established by Rabindranath Tagore’s father, Debendranath Tagore, who started the fair in 1894 — being the official organiser of the annual fair, Visva-Bharati has traditionally played the pivotal role due to the Trust’s limited manpower and infrastructure.

The fair was last hosted by its traditional organisers in 2019 but could not be held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, then-vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty cited infrastructure limitations as the reason for not organising the fair, creating discontent among residents in Santiniketan.

After Chakraborty’s term ended in November last year, the varsity administration allowed the state government to organise the fair, which sparked criticism from various quarters, especially as chief minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated it virtually.

A source stated that the decision to allow the state government to take over organising the fair was based on its popularity, with thousands attending from the state and beyond during the Christmas vacations.

Political circles, particularly within the saffron ecosystem, reportedly criticised the last year’s decision of the varsity, alleging that the traditional Pous Mela had become a Trinamool event.

“At the meeting, the consensus was that the university should organise the fair as per tradition. If not, then no one else should be allowed to hold it,” a senior official told The Telegraph.

Ghosh said that the duration of the fair was yet to be decided.

“First, we need to know if the state government will assist us as it did previously. Then we will finalise the duration of the fair,” he explained.

A source present at the meeting said a delegation was likely to approach Mamata for state government help, including security, traffic management and wrapping up the fair. “Since it would not be possible to hold the event without the state’s support, we want to avoid any conflict with the state government,” said the source.

During the days of the fair, the campus will be closed. A university official said it was undecided whether the Rabindra Bhavan Museum will remain open.

Some in the university are waiting to gauge the state government’s stance.
“We need extensive support from the state government but we don’t want it to
take the lead. Let’s see how the state government responds to this,” said an official.

If Visva-Bharati organises the fair, it will need to complete the necessary formalities within the next 10 days. “There is a lot to prepare since we haven’t organised the fair since 2019. If we are to proceed this time, we need to complete formalities promptly,” said a source.