Santiniketan’s annual fair started by Tagore’s father to resume after 3 years

The Poush Mela, the annual winter fair started by Rabindranath Tagore’s father, Maharshi Debendranath, at Santiniketan in 1894, will be held later this month after a gap of three years, Visva-Bharati, Bengal’s only central university located in Birbhum district, announced on Friday.

Visva-Bharati’s former vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty had stopped the fair in 2020 citing overcrowding, pollution and misuse of campus land by artisans and local traders who set up stalls, triggering a legal battle.

The decision to resume the fair was taken by the university’s executive council (EC) on Friday, weeks after Chakrabarty retired on November 8.

Held in December-end, the fair, which draws thousands of people and even foreign tourists, has been an integral part of the Santiniketan township and Visva-Bharati, of which the Prime Minister is the chancellor. Rabindranath Tagore founded the university in 1921, 16 years after his father’s death.

Santiniketan was included in the UNESCO world heritage list in September this year.

The university, however, said in a statement that “since there have been several directives from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) earlier and since there has been a gap of several years between the last mela, it has been advised by the EC to seek fresh directives from the Tribunal so that the university may be able to maintain the pollution control factors…..”

‘Considering the paucity in time, the EC has also proposed contemplating the possibility of a manageable smaller mela for this year,” the statement said.

Maharshi Debendranath Tagore moved from Kolkata to Birbhum in 1863. In 1888, he formed the Santiniketan Trust which, to this day, is the custodian of 15.3 acres in the core area of Visva-Bharati campus and also the land on which the fair is held. The Trust organises the fair in association with the local civic body, now controlled by the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Anil Konar, the Trust’s secretary, told HT that while it is possible to follow the NGT guidelines, holding the fair on a small scale is an impractical suggestion.

“What exactly does the EC suggest by smaller mela? Can we ask two poor artisans to set up stalls and turn away two others? I don’t think it is feasible at all,” Konar said.

Sanjoy Kumar Mallik, Visva-Bharati’s interim vice-chancellor, did not make any comment on the fair till Friday night.