Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asserted her stand against the denigration of any event or place that honours the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore, considering his contributions to the people of the country and the world, during her address while inaugurating the Pous Mela remotely.

“The Pous Mela in Santiniketan was stopped because of some controversial reasons. The people (of Bengal) did not take kindly to the move. We can’t forget the contributions of Rabindranath Tagore to the world, to Bengal, and to our country. We don’t want any place or event that honours the ideology and legacy of Rabindranath Tagore to be denigrated by anyone,” Mamata said on Sunday morning.

Although the Trinamul Congress did not elaborate, Santiniketan old-timers deemed her comments a strong message against those who had earlier stopped several important events on the Birbhum township’s calendar.

“I will request Visva-Bharati to function the way they are doing now. I will also urge you (Visva-Bharati authorities) not to run a dictatorship,” she said.

Mamata inaugurated the fair virtually amid much fanfare in the presence of veterans of Santiniketan, Visva-Bharati officials and local scholars. Among them were 101-year-old Suniti Pathak, a scholar in Pali and Sanskrit, retired professor Kalpika Mukhopadhyay and Supriya Tagore, great-grandson of Tagore’s elder brother Satyendranath Tagore. Mamata thanked all of them for participating in the fair.

Mamata also referred to Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen while delivering her five-minute address. She spoke from Calcutta over the phone, which was held before a microphone at the event.

“I pay my respects to Amartyada (Sen). He is also a Nobel laureate (like Tagore). He would certainly have attended the programme in Santiniketan if he were in the country. However, he is abroad for his work,” said the Trinamul Congress chief, who had stood by the economist when Visva-Bharati — under controversial former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty — accused him of encroaching on a small parcel of land earlier this year.

The Pous Mela this year is being organised by the state government with the help of Visva-Bharati at its traditional venue after a gap of three years. The fair was organised last in 2019 by Visva-Bharati and the Santiniketan Trust, the traditional organisers of the fair. The Pous Mela was not organised in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 epidemic. In 2022, the varsity authorities stayed away from the event, citing the lack of infrastructure.

A source said Mamata had instructed her officials in Birbhum to arrange this year’s fair in adherence to the traditions and cultural aesthetics of Visva-Bharati. The source said she took the initiative as she was aware that the fair is an emotive annual affair that boosts the local economy with the participation of lakhs.

Although there have been no official studies on the economic impact of the fair, a state government official said the six-day event had generated a revenue of Rs 100 crore in 2019.

“We know a lot of people who, with their innovative ideas, had been waiting for this year's fair and have joined the annual affair. A vast number of people will come to visit the fair, and I request my officials and everyone else attached to the festival to take care of them," Mamata said.

"We welcome all such fairs, as people from beyond the divides of caste, creed and religion participate and enjoy themselves."

The chief minister added that the administration and organisers of the fair should maintain the aesthetics, tradition and cultural aspects of Santiniketan while organising any event on the fairground.

After the state government took the lead in organising the century-old fair — started in 1894 by Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath Tagore — some varsity insiders had expressed apprehension about whether the fair would adhere to the traditions and culture of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati. On Sunday, many university officials acknowledged that the way the state government had organised the event was laudable.

“The living spirit of the Pous Mela is more important than its traditional rituals. It was a serene moment when the collective wisdom, goodness and radiance of erudite ashramites, folk artistes and organisers of the fair was reflected through the lighting of the inaugural lamp at the Pous Mela amid the chanting of Sanskrit verses,” said Nilanjan Bandyopadhyay, special official of Rabindra Bhavana, who is actively associated with the fair on behalf of Visva-Bharati.

“The whole aesthetic of this year’s Pous Mela commendably reflected the living traditions of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati,” he added.

Sunday's inauguration of the fair, which will continue till December 28, brought joy to local artisans, hoteliers and traders.

“The way the state government organised the fair at short notice is commendable. We strongly protested the move of the earlier administration to stop the fair, resulting in huge losses for the artisan communities,” said Aminul Huda, secretary of the Kaviguru Hastashilpa Unnayan Samity, an association of artisans.