On October 22, Visva-Bharati University (VBU), Santiniketan, established in 1901 by Bengal’s iconic Nobel Laureate philosopher-poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), and accorded Central university and institution of national importance status in 1951, shut down with the varsity’s teaching and non-teaching staff striking work indefinitely.
Debabrata Sarkar, president of the 1,225 member non-teachers’ union or Karmi Sabha, said the purpose of the “pen-down movement” was “to save Tagore’s dream of a university free of anomalies and corruption”. “Visva-Bharati had to be shut down following the activities of the vice chancellor who is incapable of fostering progress of this renowned university,” he says.
The target of the union’s ire is vice chancellor Dr. Rajat Kanta Ray, whose impressive credentials include a Ph D in history from Cambridge University (UK), authorship of eight books on modern Indian history, and several inter-nationally published papers. In June 2006, Ray, a globally respected historian was handpicked for the vice chancellor’s job at Visva-Bharati by a triumvirate comprising the President of India, the prime minister and governor of West Bengal.
A day after the non-teachers’ union struck work, the representative body of the university’s 561 teachers — the Adhyapak Sabha — joined the strike to bring VBU to a complete halt. Ray did not react, except to sit for meditation on October 24 under the large tree on campus where Tagore’s father Debendranath (1817-1905) used to meditate. Ray’s cryptic explanation widely quoted in the media was: “I have come here to receive instructions from Debendranath.” However thus far (October 27) he hasn’t revealed what instructions, if any, he has received.
Meanwhile, neither the Karmi nor Adhyapak unions have spelt out specific charges of anomalies or corruption perpetrated by Ray. Their members have confined themselves to demanding a CBI probe into alleged corruption within the 108-year-old university. Specific charges are promised to be listed in writing to stakeholders to read and mull over.
Inevitably, politicians have jumped into the troubled waters of VBU. Santiniketan lies in Bolpur Lok Sabha constituency which returned Somnath Chatterjee, former speaker and heavyweight of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, four times to Parliament. But with Chatterjee having retired from politics and the CPM’s influence on the wane, the Indian National Congress and Trinamool Congress are intent on wresting Bolpur from the CPM.
Meanwhile, the teachers’ union is ready to hold talks with the VBU management, but the Karmi Sabha is not. “The resignation of Prof. Ray is a precondition of calling off the strike. We will carry on with our agitation to press for this demand. Since the authorities have not called us for any discussion, we will continue to strike work,” says Debabrata Sarkar (quoted earlier). On their part, both Ray and the university authorities have maintained a stoic silence on the issue.
Sadly, nobody seems to care a tinker’s cuss about the future of 7,201 students enroled in the 33 study programmes at VBU’s eight schools of higher learning. As it is, graduate unemployment in West Bengal (pop. 80 million) is high following 32 continuous years of anti-business rule of the CPM-led Left Front government. If a major university in the state is shut while vested interests agitate against “corruption” — real, imagined or fabricated — the future of its students is doubly cloudy.
Sujoy Gupta (Kolkata)