'Dictatorial attitude of Visva Bharati V-C degrading academic atmosphere'
Kolkata: The dictatorial and adamant attitude of the Visva Bharati's (VB) Vice-Chancellor, Bidyut Chakraborty have led not only to the fast deteriorating and degrading academic atmosphere of the institution set up by Rabindranath Tagore but also antagonized all sections of local people which finally led to the pulling down of the boundary wall which the varsity authorities were putting up on August 16.
The relationship of Chakraborty with most of the teachers has touched rock bottom ever since he joined the university on November 9, 2018, as they felt that "he is trying to convert the institution into a BJP party office." They further alleged that during the meetings the V-C had often stated that "no body can touch him as he is close to the Chancellor Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah and a very senior bureaucrat in the state Home department."
The allegation of the teachers is not without basis. Sujit Ghosh Visitor's nominee to the Executive Council wrote a letter to Chakraborty to postpone the Executive Council which was scheduled to be held on June 10, in view of the COVID- 19 situation. He alleged in the letter that the agenda of the EC meeting was given to the members at the meeting and not before hand and they were expected to sign them then and there. Sheli Bhattacharya, former teacher of the Physiology department recently resigned from the Karmasamity of VB as an external member. She alleged that authorities had been taking the decisions early and the karmasamity meeting was convened to inform the members about them giving them no chance to take part in any discussion.
In the past two years no attempt has been made to fill up the 150 vacant post for teachers. During this period only two teachers of Russion language have been recruited. The posts of registrar, finance officer, librarian and the directors of Rabindra Bhavan, Studies in Educational Innovation and Rural Reconstruction, Physical Education and Students' Welfare, Publication department and Indira Gandhi Centre are lying vacant.
Chakraborty has issued show cause notices on 108 teaching and non-teaching staffs including three doctors and one nurse and suspended 12 teachers and non teaching staffs during the past two years. He has stopped the salaries of four teachers who had gone to their homes during lockdown, said a teacher.
Chakraborty's hobnobbing with the BJP came into the open when on January 1, after he invited Dilip Chakraborty, BJP think tank to give a talk on 'The Aryan Hypothesis' at the varsity. Swapan Dasgupta, BJP Rajya Sabha member had given a talk on 'Why people should vote Narendra Modi' before 2019 Lok Sabha election. Rajiv Bhatia and Satchidanand Joshi were invited to speak at the university while Sanjeev Sanyal gave a lecture on the benefits of note ban. The immediate cause of the unrest of local people is Chakraborty's refusal to refund the deposit money to the traders who had booked stalls during Poush Mela in December 2019. His decision to put up the boundary wall around the mela ground without taking the local people and traders into confidence added fuel to fire.
The V-C has demanded an CBI inquiry into the incident and informed the Prime Minister and Union Home minister about the incident on August 16, but none of them have responded as yet, it was learnt.
