Amid allegations of exclusion of alumni and some faculty members as well as protests by a section of students, convocation of the Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan in West Bengal was held on Friday.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the Chief Guest at the convocation. He spoke about the humanism and contribution of the university’s founder Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.
“The humanism of Gurudev (Rabindranath Tagore) gave us an institution like Visva Bharati. I hope that Visva Bharati should give humanity to people like Gurudev. A personality like him can come only from the midst of you,” Mr. Singh said addressing the graduating students.
Observing that the nationalism in India “is not territorial but cultural”, he said that nationalism of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was more visible in his actions rather than his words when he renounced the knighthood after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The Union Minister, recalling the often quoted words of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow”, called for reawakening in West Bengal. “The State needs reawakening in sectors such as science and technology, and philosophy so that it can lead the nation.” Mr. Singh said.
The convocation was held amid posters put up by a section of students against the ceremony. Posters such as ‘Boycott Political Convocation’ were put at several places in the university premises. A section of the students of the university were also planning to hold the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” but alleged that they were prevented by security personnel from screening the documentary.
A section of alumni of the Visva Bharati were also upset because they were not allowed at the convocation. Differences between University Vice-Chancellor and a section of alumni had come to fore a few days ago when Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty had criticised the alumni of the prestigious institution.
In a statement, the Visva Bharati University Faculty Association criticised the Vice Chancellor for organising the university convocation at such a short notice and raised questions on three professors being excluded from the convocation without any reason.
The convocation comes at a time when the institution is embroiled in a number of controversies, including with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty had accused Professor Sen of occupying 0.13 decimals of land in excess of what is in his name.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had come in support of Professor Sen and handed over land documents to Prof. Sen. The Nobel laureate had said that the Vice Chancellor was targeting him to please his bosses in the ruling establishment in New Delhi.
