West Bengal: VBU & TMC Lock Horns Over University Plaque Row

Kolkata: After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hit out at the Vice Chancellor of the Visva Bharati University (VBU) for installing a plaque without Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore's name, Vice Chancellor of VBU, Bidyut Chakraborty hits back at the Chief Minister.

Chakraborty wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking the state government to return the road inside the campus which the state public works have been acquiring since 2021.

VBU Vice Chancellor slams TMC

In the four-page letter, Chakraborty without naming also slammed the senior TMC leaders who are in jail or facing problems.

"If you consider that stealing public money is a welcome practice, then certainly, you may not have the right kind of mindset to understand our concern. Two of your senior ministers are in jail, and some of your trusted aides (even from Birbhum) are in jail. Your most vocal member of parliament is being charged with activities that have already drawn the parliamentary ethics committee to examine the issue. Many of your prominent colleagues are alleged to have been involved in malpractices....," read part of the letter.

TMC reacts

Countering Chakraborty, Trinamool Congress (TMC) spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed that Chakraborty needs 'mental treatment'.

"Is this the way that someone should write a letter to the Chief Minister? He is behaving as a grade 4 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cadre. He needs mental treatment," mentioned Ghosh.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also urged that the Vice Chancellor of VBU should not keep 'ego'.

"Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore is an emotion across the country, especially for the Bengalis. The VC of VBU should not keep ego and rectify the plaque installing Tagore's name," added Adhikari.