Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen at his home in Santiniketan, for which he has received multiple notices from the Visva Bharati University, and handed him what she said were documents to prove his land ownership.
On Monday evening, Mamata Banerjee was seen handing over the documents and declaring that her government would explore legal action against the Visva Bharati University.
The university sent a letter to the renowned economist on January 24, accusing him of illegally occupying its land. Similar notices were sent earlier too.
"I came here to give these land records because I cannot take this insult to Amartya Sen anymore. I have had enough of this. What they are saying is completely wrong," Mamata Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister also ordered Z plus security for the 89-year-old Nobel laureate.
"Now they can't question you. It is proved that this is your land," she told Amartya Sen.
The university has claimed that the economist's father Ashutosh Sen was given a lease of 1.25 acres, but he had occupied 1.38 acres.
Visva Bharati, a central university, is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Chancellor. The Mamata Banerjee government has accused its Vice Chancellor, Bidyut Chakraborty, of acting on the orders of the ruling BJP at the Centre and "saffronising" the university founded by Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan. The Vice-Chancellor has also made remarks questioning the Nobel Prize to Amartya Sen.
The Chief Minister says the university has hounded Amartya Sen because of ideological differences and his past remarks seen as critical of the BJP.
Dr Sen received the latest notice soon after he told news agency PTI in an interview that Mamata Banerjee had the makings of a prime minister, but it has not yet been established that she "can pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP in an integrated way to make it possible for her to have the leadership to put an end to the fractionalisation in India."
Visva Bharati sent two letters in three days last week, asking Dr Sen to immediately hand over the land he is "occupying in an unauthorised manner" at Santiniketan.
Thanking the Chief Minister, Dr Sen said, "She has come with the land records and researched the details. It was a pleasant surprise for me. But it is quite natural for a politician to delve into the details."
The economist said those trying to take away his home "because of ideological differences" would find another way to get back at him.
"I don't think it will end here. Those trying to take away my home because of ideological differences would find another way to get back at him. I was born and brought up in a secular atmosphere and believe in secularism. Those who indulge in communal politics don't like such views preaching secularism," he said, according to PTI.
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