Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the Chancellor of VisvaBharati, about the problems of students, teachers and old-timers of Santiniketan because of how the varsity was run under the present regime.

“The Chancellor of Visva-Bharati is the Prime Minister himself. He should look into (alleged wrongdoings in the varsity). I will write him a letter soon. I must write to the Prime Minister about the experience of our students and old-timers who informed me about the activities on the campus,” Mamata said to around 10,000 people at a public distribution programme in Bolpur town.

“Even members of the Tagore family like Supriya Tagore met me yesterday (Tuesday) and regretted how the varsity authorities are putting up walls in front of his home. They are putting up walls to keep the people of Santiniketan in jail. All people will spend time in jail and he (the VC) will live in the open. Our government is planning steps that we can take,” she added.

Mamata’s comment is significant as it comes a day after she met a group of students, a recently sacked economics professor and members of the Tagore family. The delegation told Mamata how varsity authorities under vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty were rampantly punishing students, teachers and old-timers who protested attempts to “saffronise” the campus.

“He is running Visva Bharati according to his whims and trying to saffronise Visva-Bharati,” she added.

On Monday, the first day of her three-day trip to Birbhum, Mamata rushed to Pratichi, the ancestral home of Amartya Sen, to stand by the Nobel laureate economist accused by Chakrabarty of encroaching on Visva-Bharati land.

Mamata handed over a set of land-related documents to Sen to prove that the charges were baseless.

Mamata on Wednesday expressed anger at the way the varsity administration was taking punitive actions against students, teachers and employees. She pledged to stand by the Visva-Bharati community against attacks of those at the helm of the varsity administration.

“I will always stand by the young students. During the Covid period, many students returned from Ukraine and I arranged for their studies here. I always ensure that education should not be hampered at any cost,” said Mamata, summing up her 55-minute speech.

Later, Mamata went to Sishutirtha orphanage, run by Supriya Tagore and his son Sudripta. Supriya is one of the great-grandsons of Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother Satyendranath. A visibly pleased Mamata offered Rs 5 lakh to the institution as donation.

“We are really happy with the chief minister’s visit. The children welcomed her with Tagore songs,” said Sudripta.

Mamata also met a few families in tribal hamlet Sarkardanga near Sishutirtha. She made tea at a roadside tea stall near Sonajhuri forest and offered it to the people who were with her.