Visva Bharati V-C triggers row

KOLKATA: Vice-chancellor (VC) of Visva Bharati University, Bidyut Chakrabarty, triggered a controversy on Friday when he described those who gather at the Rajghat donning white caps on Gandhi Jayanti as the “country’s biggest thieves”.

“One cannot enter the Rajghat on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. It is because the country’s biggest thieves gather there wearing white caps. And throughout the year they do things Gandhiji used to oppose,” Chakrabarty said, while addressing an event to mark the International Mother Language Day at Santiniketan.

Chakrabarty’s statement comes amid the escalation of tension between him and the students over the past two months. In January, trouble broke out between the V-C and a section of students and teachers after a new video clip, showing Chakraborty questioning protesters against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), surfaced.

The vice-chancellor’s statements triggered sharp criticism from the Congress.

“Actually he is seeing his own image in the mirror and that is why he is making such statements,” said Somen Mitra, Congress’s state unit president.

“This is a sensitive issue. I don’t want to make any statements without hearing exactly what he has said,” said Jyotipriyo Mullick, state food minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader.

State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh came to Chakrabarty’s support. “He is an intelligent and experienced person. He must have thought before making such statements. Why he made such statements only he can answer. “