A plea signed by numerous academicians, professionals, researchers, students, alumni and concerned citizens has been submitted to the President of India, Draupadi Murmu, imploring her to take action against Vice-Chancellor, Bidyut Chakrabarty of Visva-Bharati University (VBU) for the continuous defamation of Professor Amartya Sen and other professors and students of VBU. The petition was submitted on June 9 and demands immediate action.
"Prof Bidyut Chakrabarty, the Vice-Chancellor of Visva-Bharati, has been responsible for various atrocities….The latest target of his draconian rule is Professor Amartya Sen (Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1998) an alumnus of Visva-Bharati," states the letter signed by highly distinguished individuals including Nobel Laureates George E Akerlof, academics Utsa Patnaik, Akeel Bilgrami, P Sainath and renowned economists Jayati Ghosh, Prabhat Patnaik, and CP Chandrasekhar, among many others.
Allegations are that Professor Bidyut Chakrabarty has previously suspended students and teachers arbitrarily, illegally terminated faculty members including the president of the VBU University Faculty Association (VBUFA) and suppressed freedom of speech and dissent. Under Chakrabarty's tenure, the university has faced numerous legal litigations at the Calcutta High Court and the Supreme Court of India.
The VBU-Sen connection
Professor Sen's connection with the institution goes back to his family, who closely collaborated with Rabindranath Tagore in establishing VBU. Notably, Sen was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in 1999.
According to VBU, Sen has been allegedly occupying 13 decimals of the land of the university in an unauthorised manner. On the other hand, Sen has vehemently denied the allegations and maintained that while VBU had leased 1.25 acres of land to his father for a specific period, the contentious 13 decimals of land were purchased by his father, and he possesses all the necessary documents to prove the same.
The letter refers to the same and accuses the university of issuing a letter to the laureate by using indecent language, accusing him of illegally grabbing university land. It states how these claims have not been substantiated and official records indicate that the land was legally recorded in the name of Sen’s father, Ashutosh Sen. Furthermore, VBU failed to provide an authenticated copy of the lease deed, raising concerns about possible manipulation and forgery.
It started in 2020...
The university’s moves against Amartya Sen have been marred by allegations of political vendetta. As a constant critic of the Central government, Sen has been at the receiving end of this land dispute since 2020, despite refutation by both CM Mamata Banerjee and himself. The petitioners strongly condemn the vice-chancellor's actions and his attempt to capitalise on ideological differences between Professor Sen and the ruling BJP government. They believe Chakrabarty's defamatory tactics are aimed at shifting the focus from his own misdeeds and gaining support from the government.
Additionally, the vice-chancellor had also claimed that Professor Amartya Sen is not a Nobel Laureate, despite official records of the Swedish Royal Society listing him as a recipient of the prestigious prize. Thus, the petitioners earnestly implored the President of India to take the necessary steps to promptly address this matter. "We vehemently condemn the ugly mode of action adopted by Professor Bidyut Chakraborty to hide his total failure before the Government by wrongfully attacking Amartya Sen," concludes the petition.
