The turmoil in Visva-Bharati University (VBU, estb.1921), established by Nobel laureate, sage, savant and litterateur Rabindranath Tagore, shows no signs of simmering down despite this being its centenary year — a time for celebration.

On September 15, the Calcutta high court set aside a three-year rustication order issued on August 23 by controversial vice chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty against three students. The court ordered that Phalguni Pan, a student in the economics and politics department, would rejoin classes this month (October); Somnath Shaw, a student of economics, has been allowed to clear his semester backlog in December 2021 or early January 2022, and Rupa Chakrabortty, a Hindustani classical music student, has been permitted to take internal examinations in December 2021 or early January next year.

While passing this verdict, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha also had a word of caution for vice chancellor Chakrabarty and the university’s management. “Unnecessary confrontation should be avoided. It is expected that the vice chancellor will follow the order in letter and spirit,” the court observed. Simultaneously, the court directed the university to “review” suspension orders it has given against 60-70 faculty and employees within 15 days. Moreover, while passing the order, the court was also “compelled” to advise the vice chancellor and varsity management to adopt “convivial and inclusive approach” in transacting with institutional stakeholders.

Continuous discontent on the sylvan 1,130-acre VBU campus in Santiniketan, which includes three villages and several residential enclaves for former and current faculty, since Chakrabarty was appointed vice chancellor in November, has hurt the reputation of this Central government-funded university. In the annual National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union education ministry published on September 9, VBU suffered its steepest decline since the ministry’s rankings framework was instituted in 2015. From #11 in 2016, its rank slipped to #50 in 2020 and further to #64 in the league table of Top 100 universities. In the overall category which ranks Top 100 higher education institutions including engineering, medical and other colleges, VBU is ranked #97. In the annual EducationWorld India Higher Education Rankings 2021-22 which rank private and government universities separately, VBU is ranked a more respectable #25 among Top 150 government universities.

Senior faculty overwhelmingly blame Chakrabarty — an alum of the London School of Economics who taught at Delhi University for 20 years prior to being appointed vice chancellor three years ago — for VBU’s steep reputational fall. According to the Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association, 11 faculty and 11 non-teaching staff have been suspended, with termination orders served on two professors (including a former officiating vice chancellor, who was dismissed a day before her retirement), and over 150 employees have been issued show-cause notices. Also, for the first time ever, a gag order was issued on January 30, 2020 on all employees except for the PRO, from giving media bytes or interviews.

Yet Chakrabarty, the man at the centre of the storm, is silent. At a press conference organised by VBU on September 17, he was conspicuously absent and has consistently refused media interviews.

Comments Prof. Sudipta Bhattacharyya, professor of economics at the university and president of the VBU Faculty Association, whose six months suspension on the flimsy charge of ‘maligning’ the university was extended by another month on September 9: “The public image of VBU has taken a hit because the VC is trying to rule with an iron hand. Another factor is the poor teacher-student ratio — hardly any faculty appointments have been made in recent years.”

Alienated students, angry faculty, restive campus residents, ashramites and traditionalists are despondent that in its centenary year already marred by 18 months of Covid-19 lockdown, this widely venerated university is mired in unrest and has become a shadow of its once great self. Comments Dr. Shantabhanu Sen, an alumnus of VBU and sibling of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen: “VBU has ceased to be what Tagore imagined. There is no space for debate or deliberation. It’s highly regrettable that the VC is acting like an RSS agent intent on saffronising VBU.”

It’s a tragedy indeed that VBU, established by Gurudev Tagore with resolve to evolve into a haven of peaceful scholarship and an example to the world, is floundering in shallows and misery in its centenary year.

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

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