KOLKATA: Citizens from various walks of life-educationists, intellectuals, doctors, authors and theatre personalities-gathered at Nandan 3 on Thursday to protest against Nobel laureate
Amartya Sen's humiliation, terming Visva-Bharati's order "unacceptable and shameful". Visva-Bharati has sent a notice to evict Sen from 13 decimals of 1.38-acre land, where his ancestral home, Pratichi, stands.
Held under the banner of Samajik Marjada Rakshya Samity, the protest was organised by economics professor Achin Chakraborty, doctor Abhijit Chowdhury, researcher and social activist Kumar Rana and writer-former bureaucrat Anita Agnihotri among others. "...We have learnt... Professor Amartya Sen has been served notices by Visva Bharati, including a threat of possible eviction from his residential premises, using language that is abominable. This show of disrespect has been aggravated... by various intemperate utterances by some of the highest authorities of the institution. Whatever the legal issues, they should be dealt with in due process and cannot justify any of these uncivilised actions which we consider to be completely unacceptable and absolutely shameful. We have resolved to unequivocally condemn this deplorable behaviour..." read a statement by the Samity.
Academic Sourin Bhattacharya, also a student of Sen, said the insult was not only restricted to land but was also "extremely political". "The attack on Sen is because of his political, socio-economic views and his criticism of the various decisions and policies taken by the present government at the Centre," he said. According to educationist Amiya Deb, the crisis that is unfolding is being reflected through the actions taken by V-B to humiliate Sen.
Physicist Bikash Sinha, who was unable to attend the programme, sent across his opinion. It read, "To have a petty battle against such a great man is absurd.... This time, politicising this issue will go against the same politics. For entirely selfish reasons, it seems V-B has already gone nowhere and has become only a trouble spot, a playground of conflicting politics." Academic Uma Dasgupta said Sen's insult was shameful and went against the legacy and ethos of Rabindranath Tagore's Visva-Bharati.
Novelist Swapnamoy Chakraborty said, "The attack on Sen is an attack on people's sound and healthy mindset. It is a repeated attempt at denigrating the academic and cultural atmosphere of Santiniketan." Theatre personality Rudraprasad Sengupta stressed the need to stay alert and united against divisive politics and to raise voices to save democracy.
Among the other speakers were theatre actors Goutam Halder and Debshankar Halder, scientist Partha Pratim Majumdar and writer-editor Anil Acharya. The gathering of nearly 100 people decided to call upon the V-B authorities to stop the harassment to Sen and tender unconditional apologies to him for their misdemeanour. Samajik Marjada Rakshya Samity has also decided to stage a cultural protest on May 5 at Santiniketan.
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