Kolkata: About five years after the image of an 'angry Hanuman' became a social symbol across the nation, a poster of an 'angry Tagore' may take ahead the political storm currently raging in Visva-Bharati University.
While the 'Angry Hanuman' was a creation of a young graphic designer from Kerala, Karan Acharya, Tagore’s latest poster has been designed by Refat Bin Salam Rupam, a former student of the university who hails from Bangladesh.
A section of students of the central university has launched a movement against the varsity management's alleged attempt to "saffronise" the campus.
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had founded the university in 1921 and named it 'Visva-Bharati', which means communion of the world with India.
Amid the raging debate and protests across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed pan-India implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which critics have called anti-Constitutional and targeting Muslims, some Visva-Bharati students (mainly those belonging to Left Front affiliates) and teachers have claimed that Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty is trying to impose a Hindutva or "saffron" ideology on campus. They say this is against the very ethos of the university.
The 'Angry Tagore' poster that has started drawing the attention of students and intellectuals on social media depicts the author in a black robe, raising his right hand in a "stop" gesture.
Speaking from Bangladesh, Rupam said while he had passed out from the university last year, he remains emotionally connected with 'Tagore's Gurukul'.
"In the recent past, there has been an attempt to impose certain values and ideology on the campus, but they are not in line with the bard’s thoughts," he said. "I felt extremely sad and decided to protest through this poster."
Rupam said that the V-C's brand of "muscular politics" is creating instability on campus.
"Student politics, discussions and debates are part of every university, but that happens through a democratic process where students, teachers and employees are respectful towards one another. Unfortunately, at present, students are feeling insecure, which is completely opposed to Tagore’s ideals," he said. "Had Gurudev been alive, he would have surely raised his voice against this and stood by the students."
Somnath Shaw, Birbhum district secretariat member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), said they have been opposing several moves made by the V-C to suppress the ideology of Tagore.
"Chakrabarty invited BJP leaders to discuss the contentious citizenship issue, his reported remark on attacking students is also out in public, our colleagues were attacked inside the university hostel by right-wing people and then he issued a letter barring everyone from speaking to the media," said Shaw. "These are all against the ideology of the bard. With this new poster, we want to convey a message that even Tagore (had he been alive) would have not supported all this."
"The 'Angry Tagore' poster was created by a former student of mass communication from our university. He is from Bangladesh. This poster has a very strong message even without a single word," added Shaw. "We have already circulated it in our groups and soon we will put up posters on the campus."
Recently, there was an uproar after a student was evicted from hostel for recording and circulating the V-C's Republic Day speech in which he had spoken in favour of the CAA.
In the video, Chakrabarty is heard saying that even though anti-CAA protesters are now reading out the Preamble to the Constitution, the Constitution itself was "brought into effect by minority votes", with only 293 members of the Constituent Assembly drafting it and, hence, can be changed if required.
Chakrabarty's statements were condemned by several people, including former mayor and CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee who slammed it as anti-national.
"By challenging the Constitution, the V-C has not only demeaned his chair, but also committed an anti-national act," he had said.
Soon after, the university authorities banned all teaching and non-teaching staff from issuing any statement to the media.
The students' body had also filed a complaint against the V-C after a video surfaced where the latter is purportedly heard telling fellow participants at a rally to "teach a lesson" to "trouble-makers" on campus.
The video appeared to have been shot during a march on January 7, a day before students affiliated to Left outfits stalled a seminar on the CAA that BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta was supposed to address.
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