Will take steps if any top educationist flouts law: Visva-Bharati amid land row with Amartya Sen

Kolkata: In a veiled attack on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, Visva-Bharati authorities have said that it will not hesitate to take steps if any "internationally acclaimed" educationist violates the law to grab the central university's land.

Without naming Sen, Visva Bharati spokesperson Mahua Bandyopadhyay said, in a statement in Bengali, that the varsity would not comment on the land issue as the matter is sub-judice.

Every necessary step "to stop illegal activities and malpractices" will continue to be taken by the authorities, it said.

Sen, who is currently living at his Santiniketan residence Pratichi, interacted with the media and a group of students on Wednesday.

Asked by a visitor about "the humiliation faced by him in the land controversy", the Nobel laureate economist had reportedly said, "I don't think anyone can insult me as we have been living on this piece of land for 90 years".

Referring to the conversation, the statement, issued on Thursday, said, "Visva Bharati has never insulted or humiliated anyone. Neither have we harboured any such wish. But we will oppose anyone who had reaped dividends by maligning Visva Bharati abroad." The central university has been claiming that Sen is in possession of 1.38 acres in its Santiniketan campus, which is in excess of his legal entitlement of 1.25 acres.

The economist had earlier asserted that most of the land he is holding in the Santiniketan campus was purchased from the market by his father, while some other plots were taken on lease.

Sen had moved the Calcutta High Court against an eviction order of Visva Bharati.

The court had, on May 4, given an interim stay against the move by the central university to take away a part of the Nobel laureate's property at Santiniketan.

Set up in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore, Visva-Bharati is West Bengal’s only central university.