Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked state ministers to begin a sit-in outside Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s residence in Santiniketan in Birbhum district to protest against the Visva-Bharati’s eviction notice, an official said.
A source said Birbhum district party leaders had been told about her probable visit to the varsity town after her engagements in Malda.
“The chief minister is likely to visit Santiniketan at least for a day on May 6 and take part in the protest near Pratichi. We are taking all possible preparations at the protest venue…. If the schedule is not changed at the last minute, she will reach Santiniketan from Malda by chopper on May 6 afternoon and join the protest,” said a Trinamul source.
Mamata’s possible visit to Santiniketan to take part in the protest comes as no surprise. At a news meet at Nabanna on April 26, she had said she would stage a sit-in outside Pratichi if Visva-Bharati authorities tried to “bulldoze” the property.
“What have they (the Centre) been doing while Amartya Sen is being attacked every day?” she had asked.
Visva-Bharati had sent an eviction notice to Mr Sen on April 19, asking him to vacate 13 decimals of the 1.38 acres of land of his residence within May 6.
The university has been claiming that Sen has 1.38 acres of land on the Santiniketan campus, which is more than his legal entitlement of 1.25 acres. The economist has earlier asserted that most of the land he is holding on the Santiniketan campus was purchased from the market by his father while some other plots were taken on lease.
Set up in 1921 by Rabindranath Tagore, Visva-Bharati is West Bengal’s only central university, and the prime minister is its chancellor.
Banerjee had handed over land-related documents to Mr Sen during a visit to his residence in January when the Nobel laureate was at Santiniketan.
Sen is now abroad. His lawyer has moved court of the district judge seeking a stay on the eviction order. The plea will be heard on May 15.
“The protest will start from May 6 morning. Didi (Mamata) is likely to join us in the afternoon. We plan to continue with the movement on May 7 too,” said one of the organisers of the protest.
