“The objective of the attack (on Sen) the Visva-Bharati authorities have launched at the behest of the Centre is to attack the very essence of The Argumentative Indian. The BJP will not brook any voice of dissent. They will not tolerate any criticism,” said actor-director-playwright and state minister Bratya Basu.
“The sole crime that Amartya Sen might have committed is that he dared to speak against the BJP.”
The Argumentative Indian is a collection of essays that discuss India’s history and identity, focusing on the traditions of public debate and intellectual pluralism.
Sen had last week said in response to a question from The Telegraph: “Having been born and brought up in Santiniketan, I could comment on the big gap between Santiniketan culture and that of the VC, empowered as he is by the central government in Delhi, with its growing control over Bengal.”
KOLKATA: Several intellectuals gathered at Bangla Akademi here on Sunday to protest the “deliberate insult” to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
Painter Jogen Chowdhury, who also lives and works in Santiniketan and is a former faculty of Kala Bhavana, said: “I wonder when Visva-Bharati University will return to its normal. There is so much politicisation on the campus. We see authorities move about with BJP heavyweights, who have nothing to do with the university.”
Painter Suvaprasanna said: “To bring this dishonour on Sen means to deny the contribution of (Sen’s maternal grandfather) Kshiti Mohan Sen, who worked alongside Tagore towards building the campus.”
West Bengal intellectuals back Nobel laureate Amartya Sen
A group of intellectuals backed by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) here on Sunday staged a protest in support of
| 28 Dec 2020 6:36 AM GMT
KOLKATA: A group of intellectuals backed by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) here on Sunday staged a protest in support of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen after Visva Bharati University (VBU) named him in its list of illegal occupants on the campus. The protest programme convened by theatre personality and West Bengal Minister for Science and Technology Bratya Basu, was held in front of the premises of Kolkata s Academy of Fine Arts.
Land Row: Artistes Protest Against Treatment Meted Out to Amartya Sen by Visva Bharati
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Intellectuals of various fields on Sunday took part in a protest to express their support to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on the row over his family being in illegal possession of land at Visva Bharati, and denounced the dictatorial and autocratic conduct of the central university towards him. Poets Joy Goswami and Subodh Sarkar, singer Kabir Suman, painters Jogen Chowdhury and Suvaprasanna, theatre personality-turned-minister Bratya Basu and others assembled at the compound of the Academy of Fine Arts here to raise their voice on the issue.
Amartya Sen
A group of artistes, litterateurs and academicians came together to show their support to Nobel award-winning economist Amartya Sen outside Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata on Sunday. The group of intellectuals, considered close to the Trinamool Congress, condemned the Visva-Bharati University’s move to name Sen in its list of “illegal occupants” of the campus land.
Earlier this week, Visva-Bharati University Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty in a letter to the state government had named Sen among those who have “illegally occupied plots on the campus” – a charge denied by the Nobel laureate who has said that the land in question was registered in records on a long-term lease.