Economist Amartya Sen has thanked Mamata Banerjee for her support in the controversy over his ancestral property on the Visva-Bharati campus in Santiniketan, the communication coming as a shot in the arm for the chief minister at a time she has trained her guns on the Narendra Modi government for attacking its critics.

“I am not only most touched, but also very reassured that despite the busy life you have to lead, you can find time for reassuring people under attack. Your strong voice, along with your full understanding of what is going on, is, for me, a tremendous source of strength,” the Nobel laureate wrote in his letter to Mamata that she received on Monday.

Some Visva-Bharati officials have suggested that Sen is among the “illegal occupants” on the campus. Asked, Sen had told this newspaper that the family home, Pratichi, stood on land given on a long-term lease that was nowhere near expiry. “Some additional land was bought by my father as free hold and registered in land records…,” he had said.

Sen had also suggested that there was a gulf between the culture of Santiniketan and that of the vice-chancellor, whom he described as “empowered” by the central government in Delhi.

Mamata echoed Sen by saying the authorities of the central university were trying to end some of the old traditions of Santiniketan by stopping festivals like the Basanta Utsav and Pous Mela.

The chief minister, who had written to Sen expressing surprise at the “baseless allegations” by “nouveau invaders” and urging him to count her as a “sister”, reached Bolpur on Monday afternoon to attend administrative and political programmes.

“Amartya Sen is being attacked for his views against the Union government. This is completely unacceptable. Just like I am being attacked for my political views,” Mamata told reporters, asked why the varsity authorities had targeted Sen.

The Nobel laureate had been openly critical of economic measures like the demonetisation and the growing intolerance in the country under Modi’s rule.

“You all know what’s happening…. Even people like Amartya Sen are not spared,” Mamata said.

“Amartya Sen is the pride of Bengal…. The entire world knows him. He is free to have his views and freedom of choice.”

Mamata added that the BJP-led central government had launched a systematic effort to attack the culture of Bengal by trying to take control of Visva-Bharati, a university set up by Rabindranath Tagore.

“There are so many such examples across the country…. Look at what happened to JNU or Nalanda University or Pondicherry University,” she said.

Her support for Sen, undoubtedly one of the most celebrated contemporary icons of Bengal, has drawn huge applause in Santiniketan, where discontent with the varsity authorities has been brewing for the past year and a half.

At an administrative meeting that she chaired in Bolpur, Mamata gave Santiniketan residents another reason to cheer. She announced she had signed an order to take back control of a road on the campus that the state government had handed over to Visva-Bharati in 2017.

Mamata said she had received a letter from some ashramites on Monday morning which requested her to take control of the road as the Visva-Bharati authorities were restricting vehicle movement by putting up barricades.

“I read the letter while I was on the chopper to Bolpur…. Just before that I had signed on the PWD file to take back control of the road,” she said.

Old-timers welcomed the move and said it would at least stop the harassment of residents by the varsity.

“It’s really very good news. We welcome the chief minister’s step,” said Supriya Tagore, a member of the Tagore family and former Patha Bhavana principal.

After the meeting, Birbhum police chief Shyam Singh reached out to the residents and informed them of the chief minister’s decision.

“I came here at the direction of the chief minister to inform them of her decision and to order the road’s return. It was a longstanding demand from the old-timers,” Singh said.

The Bangla Sanskriti Mancha, a social organisation, had lodged at least 15 complaints with various police stations in Birbhum after an ABVP worker posted derogatory comments on Sen on social media.

“After Visva-Bharati, the saffron camp now attacks and insults our pride of Bengal, economist Amartya Sen,” said Samirul Islam, the president of the outfit.

Additional reporting by Snehamoy Chakraborty