Visva-Bharati vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty on Monday came under attack from the campus community in Santiniketan for his comments at a event on Baishe Srabon — the death anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore — with political undertones.
“It becomes my birthright to grab the government money as soon as I seize power by getting the votes of common people. I will now refer to Bengal in this connection. There is nothing wrong here to take people’s money.… But at times, the effort to grab this money results in ‘indigestion’. Recently we witnessed such an example of indigestion in West Bengal,” Chakrabarty said during his speech on the occasion of Tagore’s death anniversary at the Upasana Griha (prayer hall) on varsity campus.
Those present at Monday’s programme said that though the VC did not refer to the alleged SSC scam it was apparent that the content of his speech was in reference to recent developments in the state wherein the Enforcement Directorate unearthed a huge amount of cash and valuables from the homes of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of former minister Partha Chatterjee.
Multiple sources in the university town said that Chakrabarty's regular attempts at criticising the ruling Trinamul establishment in the state was unbecoming of the vice-chancellor of an academic institution.
“He has made a habit of making political statements and it's clear that he is trying to please the BJP leadership.… But it was unfortunate that he even used the Baishe Srabon event for political reasons,” said a senior varsity professor.In Santiniketan, it is a tradition that the chief guest or the VC reads out a passage from Tagore or delivers a speech on Tagore’s ideology on Baishe Srabon. “This VC, however, has no regard for the tradition of Visva-Bharati,” said a professor, before adding that no VC earlier had used this varsity event — a sombre occasion — to criticise any political party.Chakrabarty, in his 30-minute speech, also tried to justify his action, which drew large-scale condemnation from the campus community.
“Rabindranath surrendered the Knighthood — it was also politics. He went to several villages and campaigned against divisiveness among Hindus and Muslims citing it as injustice — it was politics. In the same way I also do politics when I utter these words (criticise) here or at any other programme…,” he said.
“If I want to nudge the society on some issue, it is not that my words will be accepted by everyone.” he went on.Many veterans in Santiniketan said Chakrabarty has repeatedly tarnished the solemnity of the traditional programmes of Santiniketan with irrelevant issues or political comments.“Probably this is why many have chosen to stay away from these lethal talks (by the VC)...,” said Sudripta Tagore, a member of the Tagore family based in Santiniketan.
