Rabindranath Tagore founded Visva-Bharati as an institution of learning in 1921 in a district named Birbhum in the southern part of the present day West Bengal, arguably using a part of his Nobel Prize award money. He gave the name Visva-Bharati very consciously which meant a communion of the world with India and he wanted to create an education system opposing the colonial education system. Tagore wanted his students’ view of society to be informed by internationalism, humanism and universal brotherhood. He viewed the traditional school, bounded by its four walls and weighed down by a rigid curriculum, as a prison. At Bolpur-Shantiniketan Visva-Bharati campus, classes are held in open air. The idea is to be close to nature, where students could define their boundaries of knowledge.
After independence, in 1951 i.e. exactly a decade after Tagore’s demise it was converted into a central University with the Prime Minister as its Chancellor. The university is divided into institutes, centres, departments and schools, spread over a large part of the University city of Bolpur in Birbhum district.
An extension of Tagore’s concept of fusion of education with life is Shantiniketan’s spring festival, Basanta Utsav. The Poush Mela, celebrated during winter at Visva-Bharati, is also inspired by this ethos. The poet often said that the purpose of this annual fair was to encourage interaction — economic, cultural and social — between the varsity and its neighbouring villages and all of them were truly secular festivals with no connection to any religious occasions/festivities.
Professor Bidyut Chakraborty had been working in Delhi University as a professor of political science since 1998 till November, 2018. He was also the nominee of the President of India for the JNU Executive Council (2015-2017). One NDTV report dated 08/10/2018 states – “Professor Chakraborty was embroiled in a sexual harassment row in 2007, which is believed to have impacted his prospects of being considered for the top post at Delhi University. However, he was exonerated of the charges later.” (https://www.ndtv.com/education/delhi-university-professor-bidyut-chakraborty-appointed-visva-bharati-vice-chancellor-1928853)
Professor Chakraborty took over as the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Visva-Bharati University (VBU) in November, 2018.
On January 8, 2020, BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta, was invited to deliver a lecture at the university on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), faced protests by SFI activists and the event was shifted to another venue and the protesting students were attacked by ABVP. (https://thewire.in/politics/visva-bharati-swapan-dasupta-abvp-caa; https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/ant-caa-protest-abvp-members-allegedly-attack-sfi-students-at-visva-bharati-university-6219452/)
On the Republic day of the year 2020 (26/01/2020) while hoisting the National Flag, the VC commented – “Today, those who are opposing the CAA are reading the Preamble. But this Constitution was drafted by ‘minority’ votes. (Only) 293 people met at the Constituent Assembly and drafted the Constitution. If you read papers of that time, (you will find) many people opposed it. Now that has become the Vedas for us. Preamble has become the Vedas. But if we do not like (the Preamble), we, who are voters and form Parliament, will change it…,” (https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/at-tagores-abode-vc-speech-too-hot-to-tape/cid/1740425). When a Dalit student Bijju Sarkar taped the video and circulated it in social media, he was evicted from the hostel by the University administration.
Visva-Bharati as an open-air institute which never believed in erecting walls. It is a place for free thinking and learning modelled by Rabindranath Tagore. In August, 2020, the University administration started a 9 ft tall wall near Sangeet Bhavan which ran into controversy as the faculties, students, local residents, and other associates of the University (called the ‘Ashramiks’) had protested it.(https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/another-wall-at-visva-bharati-triggers-protest-6561992/)
In December, 2020 Professor Bidyut Chakraborty declared stopping the organization of the Basanta Utsav and the Poush Mela citing the reason – “the campus is incapable of holding this event because of its inaccessibility. He also contends that the Mela leads to over-crowding and pollution.” (https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rabindra-nath-tagore-shantiniketan-visva-bharati-6547869/)
In March, 2021, Bidyut Chakraborty shouted to the Physics faculties in a meeting of the teacher’s council and he used terms like “awmanush (inhuman)” and “Mir Jafar” for teachers over their alleged negligence in keeping files safe from termites. This incident took place within few days of a police complaint against Chakrabarty by two physics teachers over the alleged confinement of a group of English teachers for over six hours. Following that incident, the head of the physics department Manas Maity was removed from his post and the two physics teachers were showcaused for lodging the complaint. Sources said four more teachers were showcaused on Wednesday for accompanying the two physics teachers. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/visva-bharati-vc-faces-protest-over-derogatory-remarks/cid/1808468)
In May, 2021 university authorities cancelled a virtual lecture on ‘Why BJP failed to win the West Bengal Assembly election’ by Niti Aayog Joint Advisor Sanjay Kumar hours after announcing it. (https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-fresh-stand-off-between-visva-bharati-university-students-and-vc-7487076/)
On August 23, 2021, the university rusticated three students – Somnath Sow, Falguni Pan and Rupa Chakraborty – for “disrupting the academic atmosphere in the university compound by assembling at Chhatimtala on January 9 and being involved in disorderly conduct in the name of protest”. Following the expulsion, a section of students on the night of August 27 started a sit-in outside the VC’s residence, seeking revocation of the expulsion order which went upto the Hon’ble Calcutta High Court and continued for weeks. (https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-fresh-stand-off-between-visva-bharati-university-students-and-vc-7487076/)
September, 2021, the university alleged that Professor Amartya Sen has illegally occupied 13 decimals of land of the university, in addition to the 125 decimals of legally leased land given to his father by the university. (https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-fresh-stand-off-between-visva-bharati-university-students-and-vc-7487076/) and this row still continues with open threats from university administration thrown at Professor Sen.
And the list continues. A large number of students have been rusticated, faculties have been show-caused (see first attached document), suspended, denied visits abroad, and even forced to stop scientific collaboration with CERN. At least 13 faculty members have been suspended for a total period of more 162 months and 14 faculty members have been removed from their posts of Heads of Departments, Principals of Bhavanas, etc. Faculties have been regularly abused and insulted by Professor Chakraborty through obnoxious emails, whatsApp messages, and also in person in meetings (see second attached document below).
December 22, 2022, the executive council of the VBU moved to terminate the job of Professor Sudipta Bhattacharya, the president of the VBU faculty association. This decision was stalled by the Hon’ble High Court of Calcutta on January 17, 2023. The faculty association also wrote letters to the Hon’ble President of India on March 27, 2023 on the eve of Her visit to VBU.
A complaint against the VC was also lodged in March, 2023 to the PMO and the PMO website shows the current status of the complaint as “under process”. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/prime-ministers-office-processing-complaint-against-visva-bharati-vice-chancellor-bidyut-chakrabarty/cid/1929047)
In the mean time, the NIRF ranking of the University dropped from 50 (2020) to 64 (2021) to 98 (2022). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visva-Bharati_University)