Trinamool slams Visva-Bharati chancellor, for inapt words in letter written to CM Mamata Banerjee

The Trinamool Congress has slammed Visva-Bharati university chancellor following his strongly-worded and apparently harsh letter written to the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Trinamool’s spokesperson Kunal Ghosh has condemned the language used by the vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, and compared it to that of a junior political cadre.

Ghosh has said that it’s not possible for anyone, unless someone is “insane”, to omit founder Rabindranath Tagore’s name on the installed plaques in the campus. The plaques have been put up following Unesco’s inscribing of the university on the World Heritage list, and carry PM-Chancellor, and VC’s names.

The vice chancellor, in a letter written to the chief minister on Sunday, reiterated his request for the “return of a road” that passes by the Ashram (university) in Santiniketan.

The vice chancellor, addressing the chief minister, stated that she doesn’t appear to see the ground reality with her own eyes. “I wonder whether you continue to form your opinion on the basis of what your sycophants convey or you still see things through your ears,” he wrote.

The chief minister, last week, had cautioned that if the plaque-issue is not resolved, then a protest would commence at Santiniketan.

In the letter, the VC added: “You are perturbed that in the plaque, Rabindranath does not figure…. Please apply your mind and decide the next course of action against Visva-Bharati by inciting those of your loyalists who owe their political existence to you and your concern for the underprivileged.”

The VC defended that ASI instructions are to be followed while preparing the plaque, and the same is being done. “The result of which will soon be visible,” he added.

The letter added that the prime minister is university’s chancellor, and “his role in getting this World Heritage tag cannot be gauged in any of the available yardsticks”. “That does not mean we deride the contribution of others,” the letter mentioned.

The vice chancellor, concluding his long letter, also requested for being allowed “an audience” with the chief minister. This is to enable the university representatives to acquaint Banerjee with the “reality”, and to defend the claim that she was being “deliberately misled”.