Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is also Visva Bharati university Chancellor and its Vice-Chancellor Biduyt Chakraborty of taking undue credits for UNESCO declaring Santiniketan as a World Heritage site. Sircar's remarks came as Rabindranath Tagore's name was missing from a plaque mentioning that Santiniketan is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Sircar took to X and shared a photograph of the plaque purportedly installed by Chakraborty. The plaque has the names of Narendra Modi as the central university’s chancellor and Chakraborty as the VC. “UNESCO 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,” Sircar, a former bureaucrat and a known critic of the Modi government even before he became an MP, said on X on Friday night.
On September 17, Santiniketan, the hallowed grounds in West Bengal where the esteemed poet Rabindranath Tagore established Visva-Bharati more than a century ago, in West Bengal's Birbhum district secured its rightful place on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The prestigious accolade was officially announced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) via its official platform. The decision to include Santiniketan in this illustrious list was formalised during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee, currently convened in Saudi Arabia.
“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,” as per a UNESCO website. The Nobel laureate poet set up a university there in 1921.
Reacting to Sircar's remarks, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said that his words bear little significance to the people of the state. “Jawhar Sircar is known to the people of this country. He thinks he has to utter such things as he has been made a Rajya Sabha MP by TMC,” Bhattacharya said, as quoted by PTI.
When contacted, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Bandyopadhyay refused to comment on the matter. After the university received the honour, Visva Bharati officiating registrar Ashok Mahato had said, “We are thankful to the prime minister, the ministry of culture and the ASI. We are delighted. This is a great day for Visva Bharati and Santiniketan.”
PM Modi too had said on X, “New inscription on the @UNESCO#WorldHeritage List: Santiniketan,#India. Congratulations!” Former Visva Bharati officiating vice-chancellor Sabujkali Basu had earlier stated that the honour has not been bestowed to any university located in the area, but to the entire place of which the central varsity is an integral part.
“Part of a continuing contemporary university campus, Santiniketan is an ensemble of historic buildings, landscapes and gardens, pavilions, artworks and continuing educational and cultural traditions that together express its Outstanding Universal Value,” the UNESCO site said.