WB CM Mamata Banerjee skipped Visva-Bharati centenary: BJP lashes out with letter invite

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Visva-Bharati University's centenary celebrations in presence of the West Bengal Governor and Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, BJP's Amit Malviya has said that West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has insulted Rabindranath Tagore by not attending the event. Sharing the letter that was sent by the University to Bengal CM inviting her for the event, Malviya claimed that for Mamata Banerjee, politics is more important than the legacy of Gurudev. He claimed that CM Mamata's "narrow-mindedness" is pushing Bengal towards darkness.

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Mamata Banerjee had earlier in the day tweeted on the occasion of Visva-Bharati's 100 years. She had said that this temple of learning was Rabindranath Tagore’s greatest experiment on creating the ideal human being. "We must preserve the vision and philosophy of this great visionary," she added.

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PM addresses Visva-Bharati University's centenary celebrations 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed the centenary celebrations of the Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan through video conferencing and also shared a lesser-known fact. - Rabindranath Tagore's connection with Gujarat. The West Bengal Governor and the Union Education Minister were also present during the ceremony. The Prime Minister said that Rabindranath Tagore's connection to his home state assumes significance as it teaches the importance of One India and shows the spirit of Unity in Diversity in the country.

The Prime Minister, who is the Chancellor of the University, shared Gurudev's vision for Visva Bharati and said that it is also the essence of Atmanirbhar Bharat, which is the path of India's welfare for world welfare. Founded by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in 1921, Visva-Bharati was declared a Central University and an Institution of National Importance by an Act of Parliament in May 1951.

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West Bengal assembly elections

Prime Minister Modi's address comes ahead of West Bengal assembly elections and BJP massive outreach plan. West Bengal assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats. BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats, and establishing itself as the major Opposition force in the state. Recently TMC trumped BJP in all 3 bypolls but the BJP is using its booth-level strategy, has placed its top leaders including Amit Shah and JP Nadda in the state for winning the upcoming elections.

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