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Santiniketan Trust founded by Tagore’s father moves police on plaque issue
The Santiniketan Trust said the Visva-Bharati vice-chancellor had not taken any permission before installing one of the plaques marking inclusion of Santiniketan town in the UNESCO World Heritage list on a piece of land owned by the Trust
The Santiniketan Trust, which was founded by Rabindranath Tagore’s father, filed a police complaint on Saturday against Visva-Bharati, West Bengal’s only central university, saying vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty had not taken any permission before installing one of the plaques marking inclusion of Santiniketan town in the UNESCO World Heritage list on a piece of land owned by the Trust.
Bengal is witnessing a row because three stone plaques installed on Visva-Bharati campus bear the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the university’s acharya (chancellor) and vice-chancellor Chakrabarty but don’t mention Rabindranath Tagore who founded the university at Santiniketan in Birbhum district in 1921.
“One of the plaques has been installed in front of the prayer hall which stands on the land owned by Santiniketan Trust. The vice-chancellor did not seek our permission before installing it. It has not been removed despite several reminders. The controversy that has erupted is disturbing peace,” the Trust’s secretary, 76-year-old Anil Konar, said in his complaint letter, which was seen by HT.
“The plaque is hurting followers of the Brahmo religion. Chakrabarty wants to trigger a riot. We request you to take appropriate action against him,” the letter said.
A philosopher and one of the founders of the Brahmo religion, Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath’s father, moved from Kolkata to Birbhum in 1863 to pursue an ascetic life. He built a house and named it Santiniketan (abode of peace). The entire area subsequently adopted the name. In 1888, Debendranath formed the Santiniketan Trust which, to this day, is custodian of 15.3 acres in the core area of the Visva-Bharati campus.
Rabindranath Tagore moved to Santiniketan around 1900, five years before his father’s death, and envisioned a unique seat of learning. Visva-Bharati was declared a central university through an Act passed by Parliament in 1951, ten years before Tagore died.
Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Banerjee did not comment on the police complaint.
“We are looking into the matter,” said a Birbhum district police officer.
Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose, who is also the rector of Visva-Bharati, said on Wednesday that Rabindranath Tagore’s memory can never be obliterated or ignored by any Indian. Although Bose called up Chakrabarty and even wrote an e-mail, the plaques were not removed till Sunday.
The decision to include Santiniketan town in the heritage list was taken by UNESCO at the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Saudi Arabia. UNESCO announced its decision on September 17.
