University has accused VBUFA president of interacting with the media without approval
Kolkata
Visva-Bharati appears to be contemplating action against a vocal teachers’ body that recently brought to light a controversial claim made by its Vice-Chancellor about a call he supposedly received from Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
During a virtual meeting with faculty members on December 9, Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty openly claimed that he had received a call from Prof. Sen, who introduced himself as “Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen” and requested that hawkers around his Santiniketan house not be evicted as his daughter, who visited Santiniketan often, would be inconvenienced.
Following this, Visva-Bharati University Faculty Association (VBUFA) president Sudipta Bhattacharyya had emailed Prof. Sen, who denied making any such call or request to the Vice-Chancellor.
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Did Visva Bharati (VB) Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty try to influence faculty members using an imaginary conversation with Amartya Sen? This question is doing the rounds after the surfacing of a letter in which Sen, an economics Nobel laureate and VB alma mater, denied having any conversation with Chakraborty on that subject.
Nobel Laureate and economist Amartya Sen. File photo
| Photo Credit:
Sampath Kumar G.P.
Academic had claimed Nobel laureate spoke against eviction of hawkers by introducing himself as “Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen” Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has denied making any phone call introducing himself as “Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen” to Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty and requesting him not to evict hawkers around his Santiniketan house.
On the evening of December 9, during a virtual meeting with over 350 faculty members, Prof. Chakrabarty openly made a claim that he had received a call from Prof. Sen, who identified himself as “Bharat Ratna Amartya Sen” and requested that hawkers around his house not be evicted as his daughter, who visited Santiniketan often, would be inconvenienced.