Disagreement over a plaque at Bengal's Shantineketan has snowballed into a political row and led to an explosive letter from the Visva Bharati administration to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty's letter to the Chief Minister came loaded with invectives and political statements on issues completely unrelated to the university. It accused party leaders of sycophancy, megalomania and corruption and alleged the Chief Minister is being guided by them.
Trinamool leaders now claim the Vice Chancellor's letter is an attempt to earn brownie points from the central government as Mr Chakraborty is seeking an extension.
"Abrasive and arrogant display of self-absorbed narcissism continues in what was once the Gurudev 's abode," said Ms Banerjee.
"UNESCO recognizes the world heritage of Santiniketan, but the local headman of today continues to flaunt his own little name in memorial pieces!! For God's sake, remove the insulting plaques which erase out the name of Rabindranath Tagore from the face of the institution that the poet had so painstakingly founded!! Show some dignity and humility!! The ruling dispensation at Delhi should take corrective action forthwith," she added.
Watch | Santiniketan, Tagore's Evergreen Legacy, Now A UNESCO World Heritage Site
Shantiniketan, where the Nobel laureate had built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, recently made it to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites. A plaque unveiled to commemorate this honour triggered a controversy as it mentioned the names of the Vice Chancellor and the Prime Minister, but not of Tagore, to which Ms Banerjee had objected.
"This insults Tagore and belittles the anti-colonial heritage-creating efforts of our Nation's founding fathers. 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," Ms Banerjee had said.
The Vice Chancellor, in his response, said, "We need to follow the ASI instructions while preparing the plaque and we are doing it, the result of which will soon be visible."
But he did not stop there. "Madam, please be magnanimous because you are as much a Chief Minister of your loyalists as others who may not always be your sycophants... A megalomaniac Rajya Sabha member of your political party tried to gain this recognition and the then Prime Minister also tried without, of course, success," added Mr Chakraborty.
He went further to defend his administration and said, "We have also here in the campus competent individuals who are completely different from the sycophants surrounding you... The Hon'ble Prime Minister is our Hon'ble Chancellor and his role in getting this World Heritage tag cannot be gauged in any of the available yardsticks."
Visva-Bharati is the only central university which has the Prime Minister as its Chancellor.
Mr Chakraborty also sought to remind her how former Trinamool ministers are languishing in jails and about Mahua Moitra, who is being probed by the Ethics Committee of the Parliament over allegations of allowing a businessman drafts questions on behalf of her in exchange of gifts.
"Two of your senior ministers are in jail; some of your trusted aides (even from Birbhum) in jail, including in Tihar jail in Delhi. Your most vocal member of parliament is being charged with activities which have already drawn the parliamentary ethics committee to examine the issue," the letter read.
"We have purged Visva-Bharati of evil forces involved in activities which stand in contradiction with Visva-Bharati's ethos," the Vice Chancellor said. "Visva-Bharati was a nursery of corruption. By dint of hard work, it has now changed, and we are sure, in course of time, we will see the results," he added.
In his letter, Mr Chakraborty also raised the issue of a road passing through the university but is under the possession of the government. "A face-to-face dialogue with us will give you an opportunity to see the other side of the narrative," he said.
The Vice-Chancellor had earlier clashed with the Chief Minister over the property dispute between Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and the university.
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