Today, Wednesday, October 25, Visva-Bharati University (VBU) said the plaque, which marks Santiniketan as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was just a temporary structure. A row had recently erupted over the plaque being set up at several places on the campus of the central university.
The plaque bore the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is ex-officio Chancellor of the university, and Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, but does not have any mention of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who set up the varsity. This was the primary reason for controversy, as per a report by PTI.
Earlier, TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar had said, "UNESCO specifically said they are honouring Rabindranath Tagore and his unique legacy by declaring Santiniketan as a World Heritage Site. A megalomaniac V-C and his boss seem to think UNESCO is honouring them!" A section of ashramites and left-leaning student activists had also objected to the move.
"It was a purely temporary structure raised to demarcate the heritage site. The ISI and UNESCO will provide some text that will be erected once they are received," said VBU Spokesperson Mahua Bandyopadhyay. A senior university teacher added that three such plaques had come up within the premises of the varsity after UNESCO's World Heritage site honour to Santiniketan on September 17.
UNESCO gave credit to "renowned poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tagore" for setting up Santiniketan which is unique from the "prevailing British colonial architectural orientations of the early 20th century and of European modernism".
West Bengal BJP Spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya earlier said, "Persons like Jawhar Sircar are flagging such issues on social media to cement their position in the party after being fielded as Rajya Sabha MP to unnecessarily stir controversy," as per PTI.
