Visva-Bharati on October 12 reacted strongly to the letters written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Santiniketan against its Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty by stating that his detractors were “spreading shamelessly fabricated inputs”.
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Two letters were written to Mr. Modi — one from local traders and artisans and another from a teachers’ union — asking him not to extend Prof. Chakrabarty’s tenure, which ends early next month, saying he had taken decisions that had harmed the lives and livelihoods of the common people of Santiniketan.
“Visva-Bharati is being brought back to its earlier glory as an institution of higher learning guided by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s transcendental socio-cultural and politico-ideological priorities. The detractors who survive on incomes from Visva-Bharati have suddenly become active because they apprehend that their days of exploitation of this serene academic centre are numbered. Hence, they are spreading shamelessly fabricated inputs to further expose that they are cornered,” the central institute said in a press release.
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“As the very negligible numbers of detractors seek to score brownie points by being involved in harakiri, it is incumbent on those who are committed to sustain and also expand Visva-Bharati’s glory as a centre for generation and dissemination of knowledge to put on record [certain] undiluted facts,” it said.
According to the release, Visva-Bharati did not stop the Poush Mela as being claimed but that it was discontinued with the intervention of the Calcutta High Court. Similarly, the Vasanta Utsav was also not stopped but instead converted into a “peaceful” event called Vasanta Vandana.
“Visva-Bharati has not discontinued any of the events which are part and parcel of its philosophy. Barring a few deviants, Visva-Bharati’s staff, students and well-wishers work day and night to govern the institution as per Gurudev Tagore’s ideas and also the guidance from the (Education) Ministry and other government agencies responsible for running Central Universities in the country,” the press release said.
Remarks on state government
“Of all the Central universities in the country, Visva-Bharati is the only university which succeeded in appointing 405 employees and it has completed the first phase of appointing another 315 employees... So, there will altogether be 720 new employees in the campus. For the first time, the National Testing Agency was involved in the recruitment processes to avoid corruption in appointment. This is a rare feat especially in West Bengal where many of the top functionaries of the State Government are behind bars for their involvement in job scam,” the university said.
Regarding the drop in its National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking, Visva-Bharati said it was primarily due to “the lack of adequate academic work of those earning livelihood out of monthly salary from Visva-Bharati.” “None of the faculty members has patents which is largely responsible for this decline because on that count. Out of 25 points, Visva-Bharati got a zero,” the release said.