Protests by local TMC leaders and residents of Bolpur near the ancestral house of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in the university campus to protest against the eviction notice by Visva-Bharati to him continued for the third day on Monday.

As in the other days of the protest people held sit-in, local artistes sang songs of protest by Rabindranath Tagore on two podiums built near Sen's sprawling residence 'Pratichi' decrying Visva-Bharati's eviction notice to him.

They also performed his 'Shapmochan' dance drama. Locals and intellectuals from Santiniketan and Calcutta had launched the stir against the university on the issue on Friday.

The central university, however, stuck to its programme to hold Rabindra Jayanti celebrations slated for later in the week.

Its spokesperson Mahua Banerjee told PTI the the celebrations will be held on the bard's birth anniversary on May 9.

The university on the other hand kept the Rabindra Bhavan, which houses Tagore memorablia and objects associated with his memory, closed for the fourth successive day citing "unavoidable circumstances".

"This is to notify all concerned that Rabindra Bhavana will remain closed on 08.05.23 due to unavoidable circumstances," the notice signed by VB officiating registrar Manabendra Saha said. Visva-Bharati authorities had earlier informed the local administration to see that the academic atmosphere of the university is not hampered by the protests against the notice against Sen.

Ashramites, university students and teachers claimed that this was the first time in the history of Visva-Bharati that Rabindra Bhavan was closed for four consecutive days ahead of Rabindra Jayanti, when thousands of his admirers visit Santiniketan.

State minister Chandranath Sinha and councillors of Bolpur municipality were seen seated on a dias till. The ashramites held placards denouncing the university's actions and folk singers performed.

"Our sit-in will continue tomorrow. A dance drama by Tagore will be staged to commemorate his birth anniversary," Sinha said.

The central university has claimed that Sen, who is now abroad, is illegally occupying 0.13 acres out of the total 1.38-acre plot on which 'Pratichi' stands and asked him to vacate it by May 6, failing which he would be evicted.

The economist has moved Calcutta High Court against the notice and it issued a stay on the notice. An appeal for a stay on possible eviction was fixed for hearing on May 15 at a court in Suri in Birbhum district.

Visva-Bharati is the sole central university of West Bengal and the prime minister is its chancellor.

The university was founded by Asia's first Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 and was declared to be a central university and an institution of national importance by an Act of Parliament in 1951.

The land on which Sen's ancestral house stands was leased for 99 years to his father, Ashutosh Sen in 1943 by Rathindra Nath Tagore, Gurudev's son, who was the then general secretary of Visva-Bharati.

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