There’s a bit of irony in a place named Shantiniketan – Bengali for “abode of peace”– making headlines for turmoil and unrest. However, that is what happened at the Visva Bharati University on Monday, when a mob vandalised part of the campus as a reaction to the Vice Chancellor’s attempt to build a boundary wall around the ground that hosts two of the university’s – and the town’s – biggest festivals.

Visva Bharati was established by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore a century ago as part of a unique experiment to have classes not indoors but outside in nature. Tagore’s institution is also critical for the Cultural and economic life of the city of Bolpur – which houses the university town of Shantiniketan – since it hosts two major cultural events: the Poush Mela (a winter fair) and Basanta Utsab (a spring festival of colours).

In July, however, Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty announced that the Fairs would be cancelled, sending shock waves through West Bengal given how important the fairs are to the state’s cultural calendar.

While the university claims that it is implementing an environmental court’s order by building the wall, residents see it as the final step to end these fairs. As a result, the move has...

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from Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/970959/why-the-decision-to-cancel-historic-fairs-at-tagores-university-sparked-violence-and-vandalism?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public
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