Raj Bhavan Kolkata gate named after Tagore, Guv seeks report from Visva-Bharati’s interim VC

The North Gate of Raj Bhavan Kolkata is being renamed as “Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Gate”.

The new development at Raj Bhavan comes at a time when Visva-Bharati, now a central university, founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan in West Bengal, has been embroiled in a controversy over installation of plaques.

The plaques, lately, installed at the university mentioned Prime Minister Modi – the Chancellor, and Bidyut Chakrabarty – the vice chancellor (who completed his tenure recently), but didn’t carry Tagore’s name. The plaques were installed at the university commemorating inclusion of Santiniketan – initially a residential school – in the Unesco’s World Heritage List.

“The Raj Bhavan, which has the status of a grade one national heritage, has decided to rename its North Gate as 'Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Gate’,” an official note stated.

Spread over 27 acres, the heritage site in the heart of Kolkata, the erstwhile Government House, was built during 1799-1803. Before the country’s capital was shifted to Delhi, this place was home to 23 Governors-General, and, later, Viceroys, the official Raj Bhavan site states.

The Raj Bhavan’s decision comes along with another important development. Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is also the Rector of Visva Bharati, has called for a report from the officiating vice chancellor “on the proposed action to pay befitting homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on the new plaque to mark the grant of global heritage site status”.

"Gurudev Tagore is revered as the symbol of the cultural sublimity of Bengal, Bharat and the entire civilised world. Kaviguru should be honoured on the new plaque to be installed in VB," the note quoted the governor as saying.

Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, has recently been appointed as vice-chancellor (acting) of the university. The plaques, installed during the former VC’s tenure, have drawn protests from different sections, cutting across political lines. The university, now, is in the process of replacing the plaques.