New Visva Bharati vice chancellor opens campus to tourists after 5 years

KOLKATA: Visva Bharati, Bengal’s only central university located at Santiniketan town in Birbhum district will open its gates for tourists, ending a five-year ban, the new vice-chancellor Prabir Kumar Ghosh announced on Thursday.

“The campus will be opened again for tourists. Since this historic place has been declared a world heritage site, we have to maintain it and link the heritage to tourism. I have given permission to let tourists visit all parts of the campus,” Ghosh, who took charge earlier this week, told the media at Visva Bharati on Thursday night.

Currently, tourists can visit only the Visva Bharati museum by paying a fee.

Set up in 1863 by Rabindranath Tagore’s father Maharshi Debendranath Tagore as a retreat for ascetic life and an open-air school, Shantiniketan has grown into a bustling town over the years. Rabindranath Tagore set up Visva Bharati in 1921 and Parliament passed an Act in 1951 declaring it a central university.

Santiniketan town was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List on September 17, 2023.

Entry of visitors was stopped in 2019 following Covid-19 pandemic protocols. The then vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty, however, continued with the ban after the pandemic ended, citing reasons ranging from security of staff members to illegal encroachment by local shopkeepers.

Chakrabarty also ordered construction of walls and gates around and inside the 456-hectare campus. This triggered resentment among citizens and academicians who said Rabindranath Tagore and his father, who was one of the founders of the Brahmo religion, wanted students to grow in the heart of nature and not inside a concrete jungle. The construction activities subsequently stopped under court orders but the ban on entry continued. Chakrabarty retired in 2023.