With the Ministry of Human Resource Development seeking withdrawal of controversial plaques at Visva-Bharati University, a section of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from West Bengal are hinting at the move as a “damage control and course correction” ahead of Lok Sabha polls next year.
A row had erupted with the Visva-Bharati University administration putting up plaques at the University to commemorate the inclusion of Santiniketan as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The plaque had the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘Acharya Chancellor ‘ and Bidyut Chakraborty as ‘Upacharya Vice-Chancellor’, but had no mention of Rabindranath Tagore, who founded the institution. Three plaques were put up in the university premises after Santiniketan got the UNESCO tag on September 17.
BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra said that the controversy around the plaques was “unwarranted” and it gave Trinamool Congress an opportunity to hold protests in the university and target the BJP and the Prime Minister.
