Bolpur: Authorities at the Visva Bharati University on Tuesday sent a letter to Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, accusing him of unauthorized occupation of university land and directed to return the land on which his ancestral residence, 'Pratichi', is situated. Interestingly, this comes a day after an ETV Bharat interview wherein the famed economist and educator noted there were 'several issues' within the university, and also shared his reservations about the National Education Policy (NEP).
"It has been found from records and physical survey/demarcations that you are in unauthorized occupation of 13 decimals of land belonging to Visva Bharati ... This is in addition to the 125 decimals land originally leased to late Ashutosh Sen on 27-10-1943 and mutated in your favour in 2006. You are requested to hand over the said 13 decimals of land to the University at the earliest. The university may organize a joint survey in presence of your surveyor/advocate, if you want.", the latter by the university Joint Registrar read.
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This does not mark the first time for land-tussle to have played between the two sides. An earlier spat last year saw Sen being backed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had termed those against him as 'new invaders' and summed up the allegations as 'majoritarian bigotry in this country'.
Notably, the residence in question was originally inhabited by the economist's grandfather - Kshitimohan Sen, a scholar-Chancellor at the institution as well as acquaintance of poet Rabindranath Tagore when the latter founded Visva Bharati. At the time, the scholar was accorded a place to live at the estate. Subsequently, 'Pratichi' was handed down to his son, Ashutosh Sen, and subsequently to Amartya Sen.
In the interview on Monday, Amartya Sen spoke on the changes he perceived in Shantiniketan at present, noting the emergence of 'big palatial houses' which dwarf smaller ones. When asked about university Vice Chancellor Vidyut Chakraborty, the economist observed that there were 'deviations from the ideals on which Visva Bharati was built. "It can be said there is intolerance and we need to think about how to reduce it" he said.
