WB CM Mamata terms Visva Bharati VC 'BJP man'; says it's now a 'centre of dirty politics'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday targeted Visva-Bharati University (VBU) Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, calling him a “BJP man”. She also accused her saffron rival of enabling communal politics at Visva-Bharati University, which was founded by Rabindranath Tagore.

Addressing a grand rally at Bolpur in the Birbhum district, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief alleged that the Opposition party had defamed both Santiniketan (the Bolpur neighbourhood where Visva-Bharati is located) and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

Last week, the VBU administration wrote to the West Bengal government, alleging that Amartya Sen was among the illegal occupants of the land it owns. Sen denied the allegations, and Banerjee has repeatedly defended the Nobel laureate, saying that Sen is being targeted since he is ideologically opposed to the BJP.

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"Saffron-stamped VC at Visva-Bharati"

Banerjee said she felt bad to see that efforts were on to pursue communal politics at Visva-Bharati. She alleged that V-C Chakrabarty is a ‘BJP man’ and he is trying to tarnish the heritage of the institution by practising communal politics.

Unfortunately, they (Modi Government) have appointed a saffron-stamped Vice-Chancellor at Visva-Bharati. The BJP is trying to convert the prestigious university to a ‘riots’ place, she alleged. The TMC chief hit out at the BJP saying that the land of Tagore would never allow hate politics to triumph over secularism.

Banerjee said Bengal’s only Central university that was set up by Tagore has turned into a 'centre of dirty politics' over blind religious faith. Targetting the BJP, she alleged that dirty politics was being 'imported' in Bengal by those who do not know the Hindu religion.

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Responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim during his visit to the Bengal that the BJP would win over 200 seats in the upcoming state assembly elections, Banerjee said the saffron party’s “Mission 200” would fall flat and it would not manage to win 30 of the 294 Assembly seats.

Reiterating her ‘outsider jibe’ at the Opposition party, the Chief Minister said that ‘seasonal birds are coming to Bengal’ during elections, who are unfamiliar with the culture and heritage of the state. She alleged that these “outsiders” are misleading people in the name of Hinduism and creating chaos in the land of Tagore. Banerjee further warned villagers to be wary of the outsiders trying to rob Bengal of its history and culture.

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