Visva Bharati clears the air; Home Minister Amit Shah did not sit on Tagore’s chair

Feb. 9: Rubbishing Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s allegations, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday categorically stated that he did not sit on the chair of poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore during his recent visit to Shantiniketan in West Bengal.

“Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha said during his speech yesterday that I sat on Rabindranath Tagore’s seat during my visit to Santiniketan. I have a letter from the Vice Chancellor of Visva Bharti where he clarified that no such incident happened, I sat near a window where anyone can sit,” the Home Minister said.

Meanwhile, Visva Bharati in a letter addressed to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday also clarified the matter. In the letter, Prof. Bidyut Chakraborty, Vice Chancellor of the varsity said, “This is regarding your statement during the parliamentary session today that the Hon’ble Home Minister, Sri Amit Shah, had supposedly sat in the chair of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore during his official visit to the campus on 20 January, 2021. You have unfortunately been misinformed, as this is patently untrue.”

He further wrote, “In the past, during their official visits to Unarayan, a number of dignitaries, including the former Chancellors, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Madam Pratibha Patil, Sri Pranab Mukherjee, and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Madam Sheikh Hasina, among others, have sat in that makeshift seat, which is actually just the edge of a window on which cushions are placed. This fact has been documented in photographs, which I have already shared with you on Whatsapp. Thus, not only is it not a chair, but it has never been Gurudev’s seat at all. On behalf of Visva-Bharati, I am drawing your kind attention to this in order to clear the air. It would also give me great pleasure if you would kindly visit the location in order to verify the fact personally.”