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Visva Bharati defers its semester tests for RSS institute exam
Visva Bharati has rescheduled its semester tests so that VBUSS, the higher educational wing of the RSS, can hold its Bharat Boudh IKS (Indian Knowledge Systems) examination on the campus for the first time on January 31.
Visva Bharati –– founded by Rabindranath Tagore and West Bengal’s only Central university –– has rescheduled its semester tests so that Vidya Bharati Uchcha Shiksha Sansthan (VBUSS), the higher educational wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), can hold its Bharat Boudh IKS (Indian Knowledge Systems) examination on the campus for the first time on January 31.
HT has seen a copy of Visva Bharati’s official notification to this effect.
The Bharat Boudh IKS exam, a part of the National Education Police (NEP) 2020, will be held simultaneously at hundreds of centres across all states.
Visva Bharati’s decision has triggered strong reaction among Bengal’s educationists and members of the Tagore family with many calling it “saffronisation” of a campus set up at Santiniketan in Birbhum district in 1921 by a man who not only composed the national anthem but preached the values of equality and free thinking all his life.
The great grandson of Rabindranath’s brother Satyendranath Tagore, Supriyo Tagore, 86, still lives in Santiniketan where he grew up. “This is a dangerous trend. I feel hurt. Visva Bharati is changing fast. I cannot imagine that it is altering its examination schedule for an RSS wing,” he told HT.
The Bharat Boudh IKS website says it “is a transformative educational project of Vidya Bharati Uchcha Shiksha Sansthan, aimed at reconnecting youth with Bharatiya Knowledge Systems (BKS) through structured examinations, cultural integration and modern applications.”
“It seeks to ignite pride, curiosity and wisdom rooted in Bharat’s rich intellectual traditions. By integrating BKS into competitive exams and festivals rooted in Bharatiya traditions, we strive to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern education,” the site adds.
VBUSS national executive member Rajesh Kumar Saha, an NCERT professor, told HT that the exam will be held at IIT Kharagpur, IIEST Shibpur and five other universities in Bengal on December 31 and February 1.
“Are the critics aware that Visva Bharati, which once achieved an international standard, has lost much of its glory? Shouldn’t that be restored? Tagore persistently focused on culture. BKS is doing the same. Even UNESCO says that education is incomplete unless it incorporates culture and tradition,” Saha told HT.
State BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar, who is also an RSS member, defended the holding of the exam at Visva Bharati.
“Many RSS members are also in the BJP. That does not mean all BJP members and workers are swayam sevaks. Why are people saying that Visva Bharati has been saffronised? If it lets out some examination halls to an organisation, be it the RSS or TMC, how does that affect its character?” Sarkar told HT.
Visva Bharati’s own under-graduate and postgraduate semester examinations are scheduled to be held between January 7 and February 10, faculty members said.
“ It is very unfortunate that an internationally acclaimed institute and a UNESCO world heritage site like Visva Bharati is offering space to RSS,” a senior faculty member said, requesting anonymity.
Visva Bharati spokesperson Atig Ghosh could not be contacted but local media reported him as saying that departments were only asked not to hold any exam between January 29 and February 2. He added that like all Central universities, Visva Bharati, too, has to follow the Centre’s directions.
After winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1913, Tagore envisioned an open air campus and Visva-Bharati came up in 1921. It was declared a Central university through an Act passed by the Parliament in 1951, ten years after Tagore died. His son, Rathindranath Tagore, became the first vice-chancellor in 1951. Since then, only Prime Ministers have held the post of the chancellor. One of them, Indira Gandhi, was also a former student.
Educationist and former vice-chancellor of Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University, Pabitra Sarkar said organisations like RSS should not use the Visva Bharati campus.
“It is highly undesirable that an autonomous institution like Visva Bharati will allow RSS to use its campus for any purpose. I protest. Things would have been different had a similar autonomous university approached Visva Bharati,” Sarkar said.
The issue has prompted many to recount the controversies that rocked the sprawling campus and state politics over the last three years.
In 2023, when Visva Bharati charged Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen with illegally occupying 13 decimals of the 1.38 acres of his ancestral leased land on the campus. Sen said: “I am a target because I voice my views on a secular India where Hindus and Muslims should live in peace. Gandhi and Nehru wanted that.”
He subsequently won a lawsuit.
In October 2023, the university installed some plaques marking the inclusion of Santiniketan township in the UNESCO world heritage list. These had the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the acharya (chancellor) and the then vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty but there was no mention of Tagore. The plaques were removed two months later after protests.
Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said : “The Vidya Bharati chain of schools run across all states, including Bengal, by the RSS are legal and recognised. So is this examination which all colleges have been asked to incorporate by the NEP. The problem lies elsewhere.”
“Vidya Bharati has many centres in Bengal. The examination could have been held there as well. Alternatively, they could have approached other state universities or schools. It is unthinkable that Visva Bharati rescheduled its examinations for this,” Bandopadhyay added.
