Viswa Bharati centenary: PM Modi’s comments on Tagore draws Trinamool criticism, Mamata Banerjee says she was not invited

Prime Minister Narendra Modi – speaking at the Viswa Bharati University on its centenary on Thursday – said that Rabindranath Tagore’s vision was at the core of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” or self-reliant India. PM Modi said that Viswa Bharati presented a nationalist sentiment during Independence, something that is reflected in the concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat. He was speaking at a virtual address to Viswa Bharati University in Santiniketan.

Mentioning several premier institutions that were set up around that time, PM Modi said that these led to the yearning for knowledge. “As more people get more education today, we have to make a strong and self-reliant nation,” he said. He mentioned Viswa Bharati, Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University, Anna Malai University and several other institutions.

Trinamool Congress reacted sharply to PM Modi’s speech, and added that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was not invited to the event. Banerjee herself reiterated that she had not been invited. The BJP showed the university’s letter claming Banerjee had been invited, and accused her of insulting Tagore’s institution by not attending the function.

Mamata Banerjee said that neither she nor her office had received any invite – either a written letter or a phone call – from the Viswha Bharati authorities. “I was only requested to visit if possible when I go to Bolpur on December 29. But I already have a tight schedule there, so I won’t be able to. However, I was not invited for today’s programme,” she said. “I have congratulated in my message on Twitter those who have been associated with the University for so long. The glorious past cannot change for those who are there today, it cannot change because of the dominance of religious extremism today,” she said. About those in charge today, Banerjee said, “their days are numbered”.

Speaking on PM Modi’s speech, the Trinamool Congress pointed out his comments on Viswa Bharati representing nationalism. “Tagore had said that nationalism is the most divisive, and the poet in his works showed how religion divides,” Trinamool Congress leader Bratya Basu said. He also pointed out that the PM’s attempt to highlight Tagore’s connect to his home state Gujarat was unnecessary.

Speaking for Bengal’s ruling party, Bratya Basu pointed out some “pronunciation and factual errors” in PM Modi’s speech. “Tagore’s brother who was in Gujarat, was not his eldest brother. Also, his wife’s name was Gyanadanandini and the story mentioned by the Prime Minister about her way of using the saree’s anchol is only half the truth, because apart from the Gujarati influence, she was also influenced by the Parsis in this, and the PM perhaps did not want to mention the Parsis,” Basu said.