Many plaques installed earlier did not bear Tagore's name: Visva Bharati

Visva-Bharati said many plaques installed on the campus in the past did not bear the name of Rabindranath Tagore, the university's founder, like the recent ones erected after Santiniketan was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The statement came amid controversy over three recent plaques that did not bear the name of the Nobel laureate, who had founded the institute over a century ago.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier urged the Centre to remove the plaques as they bear the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ex-officio Chancellor, and the VC but not that of Tagore. As no action was taken in this regard, workers of her party, the Trinamool Congress, staged a sit-in near the campus.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP had also called upon Visva-Bharati authorities to set right the omission of Tagore's name in the plaque as it involved the sentiments of millions of Bengalis.

In a statement on Monday, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Banerjee said that in the past also several plaques were set up in the institute, which did not bear Tagore's name.

Such installations include those having the names of then PM and Chancellor Jawaharlal Nehru in one, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Modi in another, and President Pranab Mukherjee in the third one, according to the statement.