Union education ministry sends detailed text for plaques with Rabindranath Tagore's name

The new text sent from the ministry does not mention the name of Modi or the former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty

A plaque in front of Rabindra Bhaban commemorates Unesco's heritage tag in Santiniketan

Sourced by The Telegraph

Snehamoy Chakraborty, TT, Calcutta, 16.11.23 : The controversial plaques installed by Visva-Bharati's former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty to commemorate Unesco conferring the World Heritage Site tag on Santiniketan, which omitted the name of Rabindranath Tagore, will be removed soon.

The process of replacing the plaques started with Union education ministry on Tuesday sending a detailed text for the new plaques with Tagore's name.

"Established in rural West Bengal in 1901 by the great Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Santiniketan was a cradle of learning and education firmly rooted in India's classical traditions, aspiring to a concept of university humanity," a part of the text for plaques, sent by the ministry reads.

The new text sent from the ministry does not mention the name of Modi or the former VC.

The old plaques without Tagore's name had drawn sharp criticism. Their inscription only bore the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chancellor of the central varsity and Chakrabarty as the then vice-chancellor.

People from various quarters, including politicians cutting across party lines, demanded the replacement of the plaques with those that would include the name of Tagore, who founded both Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati.

The ministry has sent a detailed text in English and Hindi. The central varsity authorities have asked to prepare the one in Bengali.

"It remains a testament to Tagore's vision of a place where the world makes a home in a single nest, resonating with the timeless pursuit of knowledge and unity in diversity," the 200-word text, approved by the Archaeological Survey of India, further states.

The text has been sent in a plaque-like format that has the Unesco logo on the left, the national symbol in the middle and the logo of Visva-Bharati on the right.

The letter from the ministry, which the varsity received on Tuesday, is considered by many inside and outside the varsity as a measure to correct the last of the many wrongdoings of Chakrabarty during his five-year term as vice-chancellor at the varsity.

Chakrabarty's five-year term ended on November 8.

"His term ended on November 8 and the ministry signed the letter with text for the plaques on November 10," an official pointed out.

Since Chakrabarty joined Visva-Bharati in 2018, he has been at the centre of controversy for his wrongdoings that many felt violated Santiniketan's tradition and culture put in place since the time of Tagore. It includes not holding two mega events — Pous Mela and Basanta Utsav — on campus and sealing the office of Alapini Mahila Samiti, a women's socio-cultural organisation set up on the instruction of Tagore.

Those who raised their voice against him, including teachers, students and varsity employees, were suspended, sacked and transferred.

Santiniketan at large and the Visva-Bharati fraternity welcomed the Centre's decision to replace the old plaques.

"The text sent by the ministry is a piece of great news for us as it is the first corrective step towards Bidyut Chakrabarty's wrongdoings. We think it is an indication of the restoration of all cultural and social activities here that were destroyed by the earlier VC. We are hopeful that the current acting VC, who is an alumnus of Santiniketan, will play a vital role in this connection," said Sudripta Tagore, a descendent of the Tagore family in Santiniketan.

Acting VC Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, along with acting registrar Ashok Mahato, is scheduled to meet senior officials in the ministry of education in Delhi on Thursday.

"The ministry directed the acting VC to meet its officials in Delhi, where some important discussions on the future course of action are likely," a source said.

An official said the varsity would form a special team to prepare the Bengali script and finalise the text for the plaques.

"The text was sent following a communication from us after controversy sparked off over the two plaques installed by the then VC Chakrabarty. We will form a team of senior professors who will finalise the matter. We are planning to replace the plaques with the fresh text received from the ministry," said a senior varsity official.

The varsity administration did not confirm when the controversial plaques would be replaced, but an official said they did not want to delay the process.

Sudipta Bhattacharyya, president of the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association and a prominent face on campus against Chakrabarty, said on Wednesday that replacing the plaques would mark the start of the restoration of the culture of Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati.

"The list of wrongdoings by Bidyut Chakrabarty is unending. We expect them to be corrected," he said.