PM Modi to address centenary celebrations of Visva Bharati University at 11 am tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the centenary celebrations of Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal on Thursday. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the address will take place through video conferencing.

PM Modi tweeted on Wednesday that he is looking forward to the address which will begin at 11 am.

“Looking forward to addressing the centenary celebrations of the iconic #VisvaBharati University, Shantiniketan, among our premium centres of learning which is closely associated with Gurudev Tagore. Do tune in tomorrow, 24th December at 11 AM,” PM Modi said on Twitter.

West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar and the Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal will be present during the ceremony, the PMO further said.

Founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, Visva-Bharati is the oldest central university in the country. In May 1951, Visva Bharati was declared to be a Central University and an institution of national importance by an act of Parliament.

PM Modi addressed the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) through video conference on Tuesday, where he talked about the university being a mini-India and its diversity being the strength of the country.

It was only the third time in the 100-year history of AMU that a sitting Prime Minister addressed its event, university officials said. The last time it happened was in 1964 when then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri addressed a university gathering.

The Prime Minister said that the country is moving on the path that “no one is left behind due one’s religion, everyone gets the opportunity to move ahead, everyone is able to realise their dreams”.

PM Modi talked about university’s contribution to nation-building and noted that research done in the varsity on Islamic literature and Urdu, Arabic and Persian languages gives new energy to India’s cultural relations with the entire Islamic world.