Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty skipped the meeting held on Wednesday by the administration as ordered by chief minister Mamata Banerjee to resolve the ongoing impasse around a wall on Pous Mela ground.
The VC’s absence triggered fresh speculations of a widening rift between the state government and central university, whose chancellor is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In its news release, Visva-Bharati attributed the VC’s absence to the fact that the meeting’s time and venue had been fixed without consulting him.
On Monday, hours after a mob of around 5,000 allegedly vandalised the campus and looted varsity property to protest against the wall, Mamata told the Birbhum district magistrate to hold a meeting with VC Chakrabarty, residents, traders and students to resolve the issue peacefully. She also made her stand clear against the wall, saying it went against Tagore’s ideals.
The central varsity on Tuesday formally blamed Trinamul — including party MLA Naresh Bauri — for Monday’s vandalism. The Enforcement Directorate, a central agency, has started a probe into the source of funds to mobilise the mob. The central agency sent a letter seeking all complaints and documents related to the wall from district police chief Shyam Singh, he confirmed on Wednesday.
Sources said Chakrabarty was told on August 17 evening about the meeting at the SDO’s office after he asked district magistrate Moumita Godara Basu to host it on campus.
A senior varsity official said officials and professors had resolved that the meeting should be held on campus. “It was decided (in the varsity meeting) that the district magistrate should fix the venue and time by discussing those with the VC as minimal courtesy.”
Godara Basu, however, said she convened the meeting at the SDO’s office in Bolpur following the order of the state government. “As I called the meeting, I fixed the venue.”
Asit Mal, the Trinamul MP from Bolpur who was present during the meeting, criticised Chakrabarty’s absence. “The VC did not attend the meeting, which indicates that Visva-Bharati has no confidence in the state government,” he said.
At the meeting, veteran residents of Santiniketan disapproved of any wall or barricade on Pous Mela ground.
“Everyone said they did not want any wall on Pous Mela ground. We said many walls had come up on campus, we don’t want more,” said Supriya Tagore, a scion of the Tagore family and former principal of Patha Bhavana.
But many also pointed out that like walls, vandalism was also against Tagore’s ideals. “We neither support walls, nor politics and vandalism over walls,” said Neela Bhattacharya, a member of the Tagore family.
Officiating public relations officer of Visva-Bharati Anirban Sircar seemed to distance the Pous Mela ground from the Tagore legacy. “The land was acquired and transferred to Visva-Bharati by the Bengal government in 1947, six years after Tagore’s death. The surrounding lands were purchased directly from the Majumdar family in 1942, also after Tagore’s death. Pous Mela started here 20 years after Tagore’s death. This is no heritage ground. This was not part of the Maharshi (Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath’s father)’s ashram,” he said.
Visva-Bharati recently put up walls in front of Rabindrasangeet exponent Santidev Ghosh’s home and near Ratan Pally market. On Wednesday morning, some Santiniketan veterans, including members of the Tagore clan, protested in front of the wall outside Ghosh’s home and sang Tagore’s songs.
Visva-Bharati on Tuesday had claimed the wall was only a 4-feet fencing decorated with creepers and plants and would have a 3-foot-high iron grill, with seven gates on the eastern side of the mela ground.
“Authorities disclosed this plan suddenly after the issue turned big,” said Subir Banerjee, a veteran Santiniketan resident and Visva-Bharati alumnus.
On Wednesday, the police also changed the armed constable posted as Chakrabarty’s security guard, citing “misuse of the cop”.
