West Bengal CM Banerjee Mamata threatens protest if Tagore's name is not reinstated on Viswa Bharati plaque
Kolkata (West Bengal), October 26: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has issued a warning to the Central Government, demanding the restoration of Rabindranath Tagore's name on the plaque displayed at Viswa Bharati University.
Mamata Banerjee said Santiniketan had been granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status largely due to Rabindranath Tagore's contributions. She emphasised that Tagore was the visionary behind Santiniketan and Viswa Bharti. She expressed her concern that they had remained quiet about the plaque issue during the Durga Puja celebrations, but if Rabindranath Tagore's name was not reinstated, local residents would protest, holding his photo.
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The controversy surrounding the plaque arose because it did not mention the Nobel Laureate's name; instead, it featured the names of the Chancellor (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and the Vice Chancellor (Bidyut Chakrabarty). UNESCO had granted World Heritage Site status to Santiniketan on September 17, following which the plaque was installed at the university.
The West Bengal CM also criticised Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti for allegedly not addressing the grievances of MGNREGA protesters in Delhi. She pointed out the government's use of police against opposition ministers and officials, while claiming that their state ministers were unresponsive to concerns.
She also lashed out at the BJP president for referring to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government as an 'asur' (demon). She defended her government's promotion of Durga Puja and the UNESCO Heritage tag it received, inviting everyone to visit the state during the festival.
She spoke about the political challenges her party, TMC, faced, stating that even though they had lost their national party status before 2026, they would fight to regain it. She criticised the Central Government for seeking documents from her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, dating back to a time before he was born.
"Every day they are disturbing my Ministers' house, their wives, their family members. Forget my family members. They did not even spare us during puja. They are asking the same thing. They are asking for 42-year-old papers from the time when Abhishek was not even born," Banerjee said.
The TMC chief said that even if the BJP put increasing number of people in jails during the elections, they will not manage to win in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
"You have elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Fight those politically...How many more people will you put in jail? So that during the election no one stays out? Even if you do this you will not get votes," she said.
- ANI
