Plaques marking Santiniketan as a UNESCO heritage site will not contain any mention of poet Rabindranath Tagore, whose family founded the settlement and who made it a university town over a century ago by setting up the Visva-Bharati University.
In fact, the Archaeological Survey of India’s text for the plaques does not mention any names at all. It is general in nature and merely says that the site deserves protection for the benefit of humanity. According to Visva-Bharati authorities, this is the style of plaques at UNESCO World Heritage List sites around the globe; names of historical figures associated with such sites are hardly ever mentioned, they said.
The text, which has been sent by ASI to Visva-Bharati via the Ministry of Culture, reads: “Santiniketan complex has been inscribed upon the World Heritage List of the convention concerning the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. Inscription on this list confirms the universal value of a cultural or natural site which deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity.”
This will be inscribed — in Bengali, Hindi, and English — on plaques and placed by Visva-Bharati in three locations at Santiniketan: near the Upasana Griha (prayer hall), Rabindra Bhavana, and Patha Bhavana.
PM, V-C’s names on temporary plaques
The absence of Tagore’s name is likely to exacerbate controversy. A few weeks ago, the Central-run Visva-Bharati had placed plaques in these three locations, identifying the place as a “UNESCO-inscribed World Heritage Site.” These plaques carried the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also the Chancellor of the university, and Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty.
Detractors of the Vice-Chancellor and opponents of the Bharatiya Janata Party immediately attacked the administration for not including Tagore’s name, accusing the V-C of promoting himself and erasing Tagore. The university authorities, on the other hand, said that those plaques had only been erected temporarily until the ASI-approved text arrived, adding that the names of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor were included merely to authenticate the temporary plaques.
Initially, opposition came from within the university, particularly the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association, which is a strong critic of the Vice-Chancellor. Soon, however, the plaques became a bone of contention between the university and the State Government, with the V-C writing a strong letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused him of narcissism.
Now, as it becomes clear that the official ASI-approved plaques to be installed at Santiniketan will not have any names on them either, the decibel levels of the argument are likely to rise in a place known as the abode of peace.
