Mamata Banerjee’s letter was addressed to Amartya Sen’s Santiniketan address
Calcutta:
Mamata Banerjee wrote to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Friday expressing her support in a controversy over reports that he is on Visva Bharati University’s list of illegal parcel holders. Some “nouveau invaders” were raising unsubstantiated accusations, said the Chief Minister of Bengal in the letter addressed to “Amartya gives“.
Expressing “surprise and anguish,” Mamata Banerjee spoke about the renowned economist’s deep ties to Santiniketan, home to the Visva Bharati University established by Rabindranath Tagore.
“Some nouveau invaders in Visva Bharati have begun to make surprising and unsubstantiated allegations about their family properties … This hurts me, and I want to express my solidarity with you in your battles against the intolerance of the majority in this country, the battles that have made you an enemy of these forces of falsehood, “he wrote.
“We are all aware of his family’s deep and organic ties to Santiniketan. His maternal grandfather, the revered scholar Kshitijmohan Sen, was one of the first leading settlers in Santiniketan, while his father Ashutosh Sen, a prominent educator and public administrator, had his The famous house that Pratichi built in Santiniketan eight decades ago. Yours has been a family woven into the culture and fabric of Santiniketan, inalienably, “the letter read.
He urged Amartya Sen: “Consider me your sister and friend in your just war against intolerance and totalitarianism. Let us not be intimidated by these false accusations and unjust attacks. We will win.”
The letter was addressed to the Santiniketan address of Amartya Sen.
Many of Bengal’s icons have been dragged into the incisive campaign for state elections four months away, so the BJP has presented an aggressive challenge to the two-term minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Chief Minister has accused the BJP of floating in accusations against Amartya Sen because he does not lean towards the ideology of the party. He has publicly criticized the government led by the BJP.
Reports say Visva Bharati has written to the state government alleging that dozens of his plots have been incorrectly registered and the list of unauthorized occupants includes Amartya Sen, who owns a “Pratichi” family home in Santiniketan, built by his grandfather. maternal Kshitimohan Sen, a scholar and associate of Tagore.
“I have immense respect for Amartya da. Do you think Amartya Sen can occupy land? I offer my apologies to Amartya gives on behalf of Bengal, “Banerjee told reporters on Thursday.
Claiming that the BJP was “changing history,” he said: “One of the party leaders has said that Rabindranath Tagore was born in Santiniketan, having no idea that he was born in Jorasanko in Kolkata and founded Visva Bharati many years later. BJP is changing History and geography.”
Amartya Sen had responded to the allegations in an email response to the Times of India. He said he was aware of “that Visva-Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty is busy organizing the ‘eviction for unauthorized occupation of leased land on campus’ and that I have also been named on the occupant list.”
The Visva-Bharati land, he said, was on a long-term lease, “which is nowhere near its expiration, but the vice chancellor can always dream of evicting whoever he wants.”
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