Economist Amartya Sen in a concise statement on Saturday questioned the real purpose of Visva-Bharati’s proposal to measure the land of his ancestral home, Pratichi.
Sen’s lawyer wrote a letter to the joint registrar of the estate office of Visva-Bharati, asking him to apologise on various platforms, including the media, for “baseless” attacks on the Nobel laureate and Bharat Ratna by the highest administrative heads of the central varsity.
“I learn from the newspapers that the leaders of Visva-Bharati have asked for ‘two convenient days’ for the measurement they think they have to carry out. The questions that arise concern the purpose of the exercise. The debate about the Pratichi land concerns the fact that Visva-Bharati bosses have declared that the 13 decimal land that I have used as part of my home from my childhood belongs not to us, but to them (Visva-Bharati). So the question that arises is not what we get from measuring land (if you measure it right 13 decimal land will yield 13 decimal land, surely). But whose land it is? Better measurement will not answer that question and the real issue is the interpretation of ownership and use,” the statement signed by Sen reads.
“To understand this is to understand the dispute,” the statement added.
“It may even reduce the fear of the students that they may be wrongly expelled by Visva-Bharati’s bungling authorities,” it went on, as a purported dig at the varsity’s authorities.
Visva-Bharati sent him its third letter a couple of days ago, asking the Nobel laureate to suggest a suitable date and time for a joint survey of the land of Pratichi.
Reacting to Sen’s statement, many on the campus said it exposed the intention of Visva-Bharati authorities “making irrelevant charges” against him.
“The statement is a blow to Visva-Bharati, especially its vice-chancellor, Bidyut Chakrabarty. He (Sen) took a very simple way to explain how Visva-Bharati’s proposal to measure the land is nothing but baseless. The larger community of Santiniketan understands that the varsity authorities are out to humiliate and harass the eminent person. Professor Sen has exposed them in just a few sentences,” said a varsity teacher.
A section of the state officials said that the proposal to measure the land of Pratichi was irrelevant when chief minister Mamata Banerjee had handed over land documents to Sen that showed him as the rightful lessee of the entire 1.38 acres recorded in the name of his father Ashutosh Sen as a long-term lessee.
“Why he will allow Visva-Bharati to measure the land? There is no reason (for the exercise). If Visva-Bharati has any issues, they can move court or apply to the state land department. However, they are only sending letters to harass the economist,” said a senior state government official.
In a related move, Sen on Friday sent a letter to the block land and land revenue officer of Bolpur, requesting him to transfer the leasehold of 1.38 acres in his name as a legal heir as lessee.
A senior official said the land department has fixed February 20 for a hearing of the application.
“He has appealed for mutation of the property. We may call Visva-Bharati officials on the day of the hearing. The name will be changed as per law on the basis of documents of the land already in possession of Amartya Sen. We are going through all legal aspects before mutation is done,” said a land department official in Birbhum.
On Saturday, Sen’s lawyer Gorachand Chakraborty wrote a letter to the joint registrar of the estate office ofVisva-Bharati, asking him to tender an apology on various platforms, including news media, saying the highest administrative heads of Visva-Bharati had attacked Senwith “fictitious”, “baseless”, “malafide” and motivated allegations.
All three letters that have been sent to Sen so far have been signed by the joint registrar of the varsity’s estate office.
Sen’s lawyer Chakrabortyclearly said that if Visva-Bharati did not tender an apology soon, his client would take suitable legal steps.
Nursing pupil found dead
A first-year student of the nursing training school of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital was found hanging in a washroom of her hostel on Friday night.
Police suspect suicide. Her autopsy report is awaited.
Mitali Barman, 20, from Balurghat in South Dinajpur, was a hostel inmate here since last October.
