Controversial Plaques Omitting Tagore's Name to be Replaced Soon

The contentious plaques, which excluded Rabindranath Tagore's name and were put in place by Visva-Bharati's previous vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty to mark Unesco's designation of Santiniketan as a World Heritage Site, will shortly be taken down.

Union Education Ministry sent a complete wording for the new plaques with Tagore's name on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the process of replacing the existing ones.

A portion of the language for plaques given by the ministry states, "Founded in rural West Bengal in 1901 by the great Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Santiniketan was a cradle of learning and education firmly rooted in India's classical traditions, aspiring to a concept of university humanity."

Neither the previous VC's name nor Modi's is mentioned in the updated text that was issued by the ministry.

The previous plaques that lacked Tagore's name have garnered harsh criticism. The sole names on their inscription were those of Chakrabarty, who was vice-chancellor at the time, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who served as the institution's chancellor.

People from all backgrounds, including cross-party politicians, insisted that the names of Tagore, who established both Visva-Bharati and Santiniketan, be added to the plaques in their place.

A thorough text in both Hindi and English has been supplied by the government. The administration of Central University have requested that the Bengali version be prepared.

The 200-word essay, which was authorized by the Archaeological Survey of India, goes on to say, "It remains a testament to Tagore's vision of a place where the world makes a home in a single nest, resonating with the timeless pursuit of knowledge and unity in diversity."

The inscription was delivered in the shape of a plaque, with the Visva-Bharati emblem on the right, the national symbol in the center, and the Unesco logo on the left.

Many both within and outside the university saw the letter from the government that the school got on Tuesday as an attempt to make up for the last of Chakrabarty's many transgressions committed during his five years as vice-chancellor.

On November 8, Chakrabarty's five-year tenure came to an end.

"His term ended on November 8 and the ministry signed the letter with text for the plaques on November 10," said a spokesperson.

Chakrabarty has been the subject of criticism ever since he joined Visva-Bharati in 2018. Many believed that his actions went against the traditions and culture that Santiniketan has been upholding since Tagore's time. The two major festivals, Pous Mela and Basanta Utsav, will not be held on campus, and the Alapini Mahila Samiti office, a women's sociocultural organization founded on Tagore's orders, will be sealed.

Teachers, students, and workers of the university who spoke out against him were suspended, fired, and transferred.

The decision of the Center to replace the previous plaques was welcomed by the Visva-Bharati fraternity and the city of Santiniketan as a whole.

"We are delighted to receive the ministry's text, which represents the first concrete action to address Bidyut Chakrabarty's wrongdoings. We see it as a sign that all of the social and cultural activities that were disrupted by the previous VC have returned. "We hope that the current acting VC, who is a Santiniketan alumnus, will be instrumental in fostering this relationship," said Santiniketan-based Tagore descendant Sudripta Tagore.

On Thursday in Delhi, interim VC Sanjoy Kumar Mallik and acting registrar Ashok Mahato are expected to meet with top officials from the ministry of education.

"The ministry directed the acting VC to meet its officials in Delhi, where some important discussions on the future course of action are likely," according to a source.

According to an official, the university will set up a dedicated team to finalize the wording for the plaques and create the Bengali script.

"The SMS was sent after we spoke with you on the issue surrounding the two plaques that the then-VC Chakrabarty had erected. We'll put together a group of distinguished academics to handle the resolution. A top university official said, "We want to replace the plaques with the new language that we got from the government.

Although an official said they did not want to postpone the procedure, the varsity administration did not clarify when the contentious plaques will be replaced.

The president of the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association and a well-known figure opposing Chakrabarty on campus, Sudipta Bhattacharyya, said on Wednesday that the replacement of the plaques will start the process of reviving Santiniketan and Visva-Bharati culture.

The number of transgressions committed by Bidyut Chakrabarty is endless. We anticipate that they will be fixed," he said.