Visva-Bharati VC says source of varsity’s ‘decay’ is ‘deep-rooted’

Bidyut Chakrabarty, the vice chancellor of the central government's Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal, has stated that the 'decline' of the institution remains 'unabated', and the source of the 'decay' is 'deep-rooted'.

The university has been in focus for the last few days after it asked economist Amartya Sen to return a piece of land it considers to be in unauthorised occupation. Further, the university also issued a strongly-worded statement refuting charges levelled by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her recent visit to the region.

In a nine-page missive — 'Plight of Visva-Bharati', recently shared on the university's website, Chakrabarty, drawing an analogy, stated that the "tree is infected with a virulent disease for one is required to administer strong doses of medicines". He added that the process has begun with corrective steps being taken.

Speaking of the protesters, the V-C mentions, "Besides being powerful wordsmiths in designing new expletives, the agitators who also claim to be students, seem to have had a thorough training in devising new ways of abusing the authorities…"

Chakrabarty states that the 'detractors' of the university's founder, Rabindranath Tagore, became active once his eldest son — Rathindranath — was made the first V-C of the university. Referring to the harsh experiences faced by Rathindranath, he adds that a trend was established. "As soon as the V-C engages in a cleansing operation, s/he continues to be humiliated till s/he demits office. There are, of course, exceptions: some survived with their strong determination and some with political patronage."

Among other issues pointed out was the issue of staff. Chakrabarty says that during his stint as the VC, "It has come to our notice that quality did not seem to matter in regard to recruitments, both teaching and non-teaching on many occasions." Speaking about the non-teaching staff, he adds that "there is hardly a minuscule segment of employees who are capable of preparing a readable draft in English for the authority. Moreover, it is also difficult to locate one who is well-equipped in flawlessly typing just one page."

A university official told DH that the missives are being written at intervals by the V-C. Not aimed at any specific group of readers, the V-C has written missives earlier as well.