A day after Visva-Bharati authorities backtracked over the ongoing plaque row and announced its plans to replace them with the Archeological Survey of India tablet inscriptions, Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee issued a Friday 10 AM deadline for the removal of the marble tablets from the premises or else face the party’s backlash.

“If Santiniketan received Unesco’s heritage tag, it’s because of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore is the creator of Santiniketan. And Visva Bharati removed him (from their plaques)?” Banerjee expressed her exasperation from a press conference at her Kalighat residence on Thursday afternoon.

“We silently digested this development because we were in the middle of the Pujas. If they don’t remove those plaques by morning tomorrow and bring back Tagore (in their announcement boards) our (party) followers will begin agitation from 10 AM on Friday hanging Tagore’s portraits on their chests,” she declared.

Banerjee’s ultimatum was preceded by the Trinamul Congress party as a whole and, individually, a section of its leaders taking to the social media on Thursday, a week after the plaques were installed, to launch a political counter-narrative against Visva Bharati authorities, but more specifically targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Plaques at the esteemed UNESCO World Heritage site, Visva-Bharati University, feature an inexplicable omission. They highlight the names of PM @narendramodi and VC Bidyut Chakrabarty, while astonishingly leaving out the name of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore. This oversight raises a critical question: Does Modi ji believe he stands above the legacy of Gurudeb? This is not just an affront to Tagore, but to every Indian who treasures their heritage. This is a disservice to his legacy and an injustice to our shared history!,” a post on TMC’s verified X handle read.

Soon enough, other leaders of the party followed suit by voicing similar opinions. Among them were state ministers Shashi Panja, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Indranil Sen, MP Kakali Ghosh Dastidar and youth leaders Sayoni Ghosh and Ritabrata Banerjee.

Significantly, though, the day also marked members of the Santiniketan Trust and a section of Asramiks shooting an official protest letter to PM Modi seeking intervention and action against the university authorities. Copies of the letter were also forwarded to President Draupadi Murmu, Union higher education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose. The letter was signed by Anil Konar, Trust secretary, Sabujkoli Sen, former VC and Asramik Sangha representatives Uma Sen and Subir Banerjee.

The Trust, founded by Rabindranath’s father Debendranath Tagore in 1888, currently pays taxes for some 13 bighas of land inside the Visva Bharati premises and houses prominent structures like the Upasana Griha, Chhatimtala, Patha Bhavan office, Gour Prangan and the Mrinalini hostel. While every vice chancellor of Visva Bharati since Rabindranath have remained ex-officio chairman of the Trust, the current VC, Professor Bidyut Chakraborty broke away from the tradition reportedly stating that it wasn’t a mandatory job.

“Did Visva-Bharati take the consent of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi before fixing his name along with the Vice-Chancellor’s own name? It appears as self-advertisement which is not only damaging the image of the Vice-Chancellor but also that of the respected Chancellor Shri Narendra Modi,” the letter stated and went on to ask: “Neither the Chancellor nor the Vice-Chancellor is the founder of the heritage site and the constructions there, nor did they inaugurate the site. Why then should their names be inscribed below the declaration?”

“Did the UNESCO form any authorized body or committee which decides and controls the management of these heritage areas? Have they been informed about the written scripts on the tablets? Did they give their consent despite knowing that it goes against the tradition of Santiniketan?” were among the questions raised by the stakeholders in their protest letter, adding these could be reiterated before the Unesco as well.

“Visva-Bharati led by Prof. Bidyut Chakrabarty did not invite any of the bodies such as Santiniketan Trust, the local municipal authority, the district administrative authorities, bodies of old time residents, or employees and students of the university for seeking their opinions nor did they try to involve them in this great mission. Taking unilateral decisions can only create discontent and disgust among the people and obstruct the way of progress,” the letter stated.

“It’s ridiculous that the university authorities even thought of demarcating particular areas as heritage,” remarked Sabujkoli Sen. “The Unesco heritage listing wasn’t awarded for a set of edifices that Santiniketan has. It was equally given for the way of life Gurudev Tagore inculcated in this piece of land among all its stakeholders,” she maintained.