Visva-Bharati appears set to witness more trouble on campus, this time over a lecture on the worship of Goddess Kali, with old-timers as well as detractors of Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty saying that religion has never found space in this secular institution.
At 4 p.m. on Monday, a lecture titled ‘The Concept of Kali Worship’ is scheduled to be delivered by Swami Saradatmananda Ji Maharaj, who is the general secretary of the Sree Sree Ramakrishna Ashrama in Kolkata. The event will be held in the physical mode — unlike the previous lecture, delivered online by actor Kabir Bedi — at the university’s Central Library and will be presided over by the Vice-Chancellor himself.
This is not the first time the university is witnessing anger over the choice of speakers. A section of teachers and students allege that only right-wing ideologues are given preference by the V-C, and there was a protest on the campus when BJP ideologue Swapan Dasgupta delivered a lecture in early 2020.
