Mamata Banerjee fumes after Amartya Sen named as 'illegal squatter' by Visva Bharati Uni

Fuming over Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen's name included in a list of alleged squatters in Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Friday, wrote to Sen expressing solidarity with him. Highlighting Sen's deep ancestral roots with Santiniketan, she said that 'some nouveau invaders are raising question on your familial properties'. Stating that 'we shall overcome', she added that Sen could count her in his war against intolerance.

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Mamata writes to Amartya Sen; expresses solidarity

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Amartya Sen listed as an 'illegal squatter'

As per reports, Visva-Bharati University has written to the Mamata government alleging that dozens of university's plots have been wrongly allocated to private entities. Alleging that Sen has reportedly occupied 13 decimals of land, in addition to the 125 decimals of legally leased land given to his father by the university, the university has sent a list of 'squatters' to the government, including his name - which has infuriated Banerjee. The university has reportedly stated that the academic department, the girls' hostel, as well as the Vice Chancellor's official bungalow have made it to the list of plots allocated to private parties.

Reports further state that Visva Bharati's estate office has claimed that these fallacious records were created back in the 1980s and 1990s, with most of these plots being located in an area inhabited by eminent people. Banerjee has called for a protest asserting, 'I will be going to Shantiniketan on the 28th where I will also protest'. Sen has denied these allegations.

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On Thursday, Mamata Banerjee had also claimed that she was not invited to the convocation ceremony in  Visva-Bharati University's centenary celebrations, inspite of an official invite sent to the West Bengal Chief Minister. In an apparent reference to the BJP, the TMC chief remarked that those present at the Visva Bharati celebrations are just 'temporary' and that their days are 'numbered'. TMC leader Bratya Basu also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended the central varsity's meet on the occasion over a video conference, made "factual errors" during his speech.

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Reacting to her allegations, BJP chief J P Nadda reasoned that Mamata Banerjee had 'boycotted' the ceremony because of 'jealousy, political hatred and rivalry'. In a series of tweets, the BJP chief criticised the TMC supremo of 'embarrassing' the culture of Bengal. BJP and TMC are gearing for a high-pitch political battle as West Bengal goes to polls in April-May.