Most dictionaries, when they define the word ‘missive’ — “a letter, especially a long or important one” — don’t forget to mention that it is often used humorously. However, at Visva-Bharati, the university founded by Rabindranath Tagore nearly a century ago, the word has taken on an official and near ominous tone.
Of late, the links to various notices on the university website invariably include a ‘missive’ from Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty. On Tuesday, the website was highlighting ‘The Ninth Missive of the Vice-Chancellor dated 15 August, 2020.’ Eight other missives have been sent by Mr Chakrabarty over the past few weeks, the first one coming sometime in June this year.
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These ‘missives’ invariably detail the Vice-Chancellor’s efforts to set right wrongdoings committed in the past and at present. The communications have been written at a time when the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up far greater challenges to the iconic institution, including the future of its students.
On Monday, Mr Chakrabarty shut down the university after violence broke out over the construction of a wall around the famous Bhuban Danga ground, where fairs are held and which finds mention in several Bengali literary works.
The wall, which will cut off access for local people to the ground, has been in the pipeline for nearly a decade now but so far no V-C seriously pursued it. But last week, Mr Chakrabarty, who took charge in November 2018, went ahead with construction work, ignoring voices — including that of octogenarian Supriyo Tagore, a descendant of Rabindranath Tagore, who is still active on the campus — opposing the construction.
The construction activity was disrupted as local people swarmed the site and their protests turned violent.
“The question is, why build the wall now when there are other issues to be tackled, such as holding exams for students? Jamia Millia Islamia, another Central university in the country that has classes from KG to UG, has already completed its evaluation of final-year students. Whereas we still remain undecided about the exams,” a long-serving teacher, requesting anonymity, told The Hindu.
Another senior teacher said: “All that the Vice-Chancellor has done during the pandemic is issue suspension orders, give show-cause notices and write missives. He evicted foreign hostellers in the name of COVID-19 even though they had nowhere to go, but at the same time asked the staff to report for work and also held numerous meetings that had a large number of people in attendance.”
Yet another teacher opined that while the university was well within its rights to construct the wall, the V-C should have taken all stakeholders into confidence before beginning the construction. “We totally condemn the violence, but you cannot ignore the emotions of the local people,” the teacher asserted.
All the faculty members did not want to be named since even a benign interaction with the media is prohibited and can result in suspension.
On Wednesday, a meeting is likely to be held by the district magistrate of Birbhum, where Santiniketan is located, in which all stakeholders are expected to participate. Irrespective of the outcome, Monday’s violence has turned out to be yet another scar on the Abode of Peace.
Visva-Bharati has witnessed a series of protests after Mr. Chakrabarty took charge. Invitation to right-wing ideologues to speak at the university; summary eviction from the hostel of a student who had merely recorded Mr. Chakrabarty’s Republic Day speech once the clip went viral; delay in payment of salaries; negating decisions taken by his predecessors, issuing of gag orders — these are some of the moves that set of a current of discord. Meanwhile, Visva-Bharati’s position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework slipped from 37 to 50.
The controversies come at a time when the university should have been preparing — with pride — for its centenary next year.
