Amit Malviya, the BJP’s IT cell chief and co-in-charge for Bengal, on Monday let out a “secret” that many in Bengal were unaware of till now.

Malviya, often referred to as the ringmaster of the BJP’s propaganda machinery, tweeted: “Amartya Sen, during his tenure at Viswa Bharati University in West Bengal, has indulged in gross irregularities and land grab.... “

Malviya was seeking to throw his weight behind the varsity authorities’ claim that the Nobel laureate had been “illegally occupying” 13 decimals of land.

In his eagerness to echo an agenda that suits the Sangh narrative, Malviya spelt the name of the university wrong. It is Visva-Bharati, not Viswa Bharati.

If Malviya is wondering what the big deal is, such quibbling is a big deal in Bengal. If you spell the university’s name wrong, be prepared for rejoinders and admonitions until the error is corrected.

Second, Visva-Bharati does not use the suffix “University”. Malviya, unfamiliar with the ways of Bengal, would have done well to consult Bidyut Chakrabarty, the vice-chancellor who finds himself at the centre of most storms that buffet the central university.

Third, contrary to the BJP propaganda chief’s claim about Sen’s “tenure” at the varsity, no one could recall Sen having held any position at Visva-Bharati.

Malviya can hear it from the university itself.

Asked, Mahua Banerjee, the acting public relations officer of Visva-Bharati, told The Telegraph: “As far as I know, he (Sen) never had any tenure in Visva-Bharati as he never worked here.”

Malviya now has the chance to prove Visva-Bharati wrong and stake claim to a Nobel prize.

So far, elementary research reveals that Sen taught at Jadavpur University, the Delhi School of Economics, the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford before moving to Harvard University as professor of economics and philosophy. In 1998, he was master of Trinity College, Cambridge. At present, he is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University.

“We always write Visva-Bharati, not Visva Bharati University,” Banerjee, the acting PRO, added. Banerjee was responding to specific questions from this newspaper on whether Sen had any tenure at the varsity and how the institution spells its name. She was not responding to the tweet by Malviya.

Several old-timers on the campus echoed Banerjee.

“Professor Sen was never a faculty member here nor did he hold any administrative post at Visva-Bharati. This BJP leader should be ashamed of himself as his attempt to peddle blatant lies is exposed,” said Manisha Banerjee, an alumna of Santiniketan who is now headmistress of a higher secondary school in Birbhum.

Malviya’s tweet was aimed at 120 civil society members from the state who had condemned Visva-Bharati’s attempts to evict Sen from a stretch of his Santiniketan home, Pratichi, and released a statement asking why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chancellor of the varsity, was silent on the subject.

Protest

A platform of civil society members, including academics, doctors, performing artists and educationists, have planned a protest meeting on April 27 evening at Nandan-3 in Calcutta against Visva-Bharati’s attempts to harass Sen.