Santiniketan Plaque Without Rabindranath Tagore's Name Removed After Row

The controversial plaques at Santiniketan that did not feature its founder Rabindranath Tagore's name have been removed by the Visva-Bharati University, authorities said on Wednesday.

"New plaques have been placed and the old ones have been removed. This is according to the government's orders," a varsity official said.

Santiniketan, where Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in September and the central university had installed three plaques to commemorate it.

However, a massive controversy erupted after the plaques did not have Rabindranath Tagore's name and featured the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the Chancellor of the University, and former Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty. 

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged the Centre to remove the plaques as they "insulted" Tagore.

"Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore created a world heritage site (now recognised by UNESCO) at Santiniketan - Visva Bharati, but the current institutional authorities there have arranged site memorial plaques on this occasion which display even the Vice Chancellor's name but not the name of Gurudev. This insults Tagore and belittles the anti-colonial heritage-creating efforts of our Nation's founding fathers," she had said.

"The central government will be well advised to remove this narcissistic display of arrogant self-exhibitionism forthwith, and to give Gurudev the tribute that the country owes to him," she added.

Several BJP leaders also expressed their disapproval of the plaques.

The union education ministry then told the varsity to remove the plaques and replace them with ones having Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's name.

On October 6, Ms Banerjee asked Visva Bharati to immediately change the plaques or face indefinite protests by Trinamool Congress activists on the campus.

The protests were withdrawn after controversial vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty's five-year term ended on November 8 and Kala Bhavan principal VC Sanjoy Kumar Mallik took over as the officiating Vice-Chancellor.