The teachers of West Bengal's Visva Bharati University condemned the incident where Vice-Chancellor Dr Bidyut Chakrabarty was abused at an online event but also added that the VC has made life difficult for everyone in the university town of Shantiniketan and that this might be an outburst related to that. They also added that the perpetrators have taken a page out of the VC's playbook and that he was the one who started abusing people in meetings way before all this happened.
Dr Chakrabarty was abused at an online event on January 11 by unknown miscreants. The incident happened during a music therapy session organised by the Sangeet Bhavan. The audio clip from the online event has also gone viral. The Visva Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA) said that while this is heinous, Dr Chakrabarty is the one who brought in this culture. "We condemn this act of abusing the VC but would also like to inform that the VC is the one who had brought in this culture of abusing even at official meetings. Teachers have already lodged a complaint with the local police about this. We are of the opinion that the VC's actions have disrupted normal life and the locals are furious. The uproar has come out the path (of being abusive) shown by the VC himself. We would like to bring this to the attention of those who appointed the VC before something major happens," said the VBUFA.
What really happened? During the music therapy session, unknown miscreants joined the online event and started abusing the VC. The organisers promptly removed the unknown participants but the damage was already done. The university authorities have said that they have launched a full-fledged investigation on the incident. They also said that the university will come up with stricter rules for their online events so that such incidents do not happen in the future. But was it really people affected by the VC's decision who abused him? Was it an orchestrated attack or just someone playing pranks?
The online session is organised every day in the evening during the pandemic. The session has various professors perform songs, dance recitals or even scenes from dramas. On January 11, an unknown account was detected by the organisers. When the unknown participant was asked who they were, the person started abusing the VC. The organisers were taken aback. "This can not be a respectable person. Please remove them," one of the officials is heard saying in the audio clip that has now gone viral.
The university has not come out with a statement yet or even revealed details of any kind. It is also unknown whether they have or have planned to file a police complaint. Videos going viral from VBU is not something new but this is the first in recent times that the VC is on the receiving end. Earlier, a video of the VC confessing that he will not put his wholehearted effort to help the varsity improve its ranking went viral right after the NAAC visit. Recently, the VC was seen allegedly blaming local Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal for siding with negligent security personnel.
