Tagore's name missing in plaques at Visva-Bharati; Congress slams 'delusional' Modi
Newly-installed plaques at West Bengal's Visva-Bharati University prominently features Modi’s name identifying him as 'Acharya'
A major row has broken out over the newly-installed plaques at West Bengal's famed Visva-Bharati University, which prominently features Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name identifying him as 'Acharya'. The plague makes no mention of the founder of the university, the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
The plaques have come up to promote the fact that Santiniketan is now a UNESCO World Heritage site, a tag that it received in September this year.
The Congress has jumped into the controversy to slam Modi for usurping the heritage of Rabindranath Tagore and erasing his name from the university he had built with passion over a century ago.
Calling PM Modi the "chief peddler of fear, hate and division", the Congress said he was being “delusional” by calling himself the ‘Acharya’ of the Visva-Bharati university. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote that erasure of Nehru wasn’t enough. “Now, erasure of Rabindranath Tagore also begins," Ramesh wrote on X.
The Prime Minister must consider renaming "narcissism as modicissism", said Pawan Khera. In his post, While Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader KC Venugopal quoted Rabindranath Tagore as famously saying - "Freedom from fear is the freedom I claim for you, my Motherland".
Further, he added, today, the chief peddler of fear, hate and division' has now named himself Acharya at the great Shantiniketan, omitting Tagore altogether,” he said, adding delusion knows no limits.
The university had installed three plaques naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the chancellor of the university and vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty.
Tagore’s great grandson, Supriyo Thakur too said he was unhappy with the authorities for trying to erase the name of Tagore from the university.
Honouring Tagore's legacy
Earlier, TMC leader Jawhar Sircar posted on X saying that UNESCO had specifically said they are honouring Rabindranath Tagore and his unique legacy by declaring Santiniketan as a World Heritage Site. "A megalomaniac VC and his boss seem to think UNESCO is honouring them,” said Sircar, who is known to be a Modi critic.
UNESCO website describes the university as having been established in rural West Bengal in 1901 by the renowned poet and philosopher, Rabindranath Tagore. Santiniketan was a residential school and centre for art based on ancient Indian traditions and on a vision of the unity of humanity transcending religious and cultural boundaries. The Nobel laureate poet set up a university there in 1921.
