Mamata, Visva Bharati academics hail UNESCO Heritage tag for Santiniketan
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she was extremely happy with the news of Santiniketan being added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Banerjee, currently touring Spain, wrote on 'X', "Glad and proud that our Santiniketan, the town of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, is now finally included in UNESCO's World Heritage List. Biswa Bangla's pride, Santiniketan was nurtured by the poet and has been supported by people of Bengal over the generations."
She added, "We from the Government of West Bengal have significantly added to its infrastructure in the last 12 years and the world now recognises the glory of the heritage place. Kudos to all who love Bengal, Tagore, and his messages of fraternity. Jai Bangla, Pranam to Gurudev."
Former Visva Bharati officiating vice-chancellor Sabujkali Basu told PTI, "This is a proud moment for everyone and it was the result of sincere efforts by former VCs since 2005." "
"We are obviously happy. Former VCs like Rajatkanta Roy, Sushanta Kumar Duttagupta had tirelessly worked for this honour and we are happy with the outcome today," she said.
Pointing out that the honour has not been bestowed to any university located in the area but to the entire place of which the central varsity is an integral part, she said Santiniketan had been first created by Maharshi Devendra Nath Tagore in 1888 and the Santiniketan Trust had been working to safeguard the sanctity and character of the whole area.
"And after all the hard work in all these years, today is an occasion of joy," Basu said.
Visva Bharati officiating registrar Ashok Mahato said, "We are thankful to the prime minister, the ministry of culture and the ASI. We are delighted. This is a great day for Visva Bharati and Santiniketan."
"This label will pave the way for a holistic preservation of the ideals, the heritage of the unique art, craft, music, architecture and environment of Santiniketan," he added.
A member of the trust said, "We will celebrate the occasion at the 'Upsana Griha' (prayer hall) tomorrow (Monday). The event will be called Ananda Utsav."
Visva Bharati student union leader Somnath Sow said, "All of us, all stakeholders, will be present at the celebrations tomorrow."
The ruling Trinamool Congress posted on X, "Santiniketan, the cherished home of Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore, has earned its place in @UNESCO's World Heritage List. It proudly stands as a testament to the profound cultural and intellectual contributions of the Nobel Laureate. Let us continue to cherish and protect this treasure for generations to come."
Santiniketan, the famed place in West Bengal where poet Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on Sunday.
Detailing the events that led to the honour, a Santiniketan Trust member said, "The Union government had accepted the approach of the Visva Bharati (VB) authorities regarding the demand to declare its core area as world heritage. In April that year (2009), a high-level team from the ministry of culture visited Santiniketan. The team was divided into seven groups comprising experts from various fields and university officials. Veteran painter Jogen Chowdhury was one of the members of that committee."
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
