The state government is going to organise the first Durga Puja carnival in Bolpur town to celebrate the Unesco World Heritage site tag awarded to Shantiniketan on 17 September. MLA of Bolpur and state minister of MSME and textiles, Chandranath Singha held high level meetings with the district, civil, police, fire brigade and other officials in this connection. “ It has been decided that from Lodge More to Jambuni Road the first Durga Puja Carnival will be held.

Durga Puja of our state has earlier bagged the world cultural heritage status and now Shantiniketan has bagged the World Heritage site tag. So this year it is a a double celebration for us and to honour the Unesco recognition the state has decided to organise a colourful Durga Carnival,” said Mr Singha. He further said that on 1901, Rabindranath Tagore has set up the first residential school in Shantiniketan and Visva Bharati started its journey on 1921 and in 2023 the received the UNRESCO regonition.

The theme of this year’s carnival will be the Unesco World Heritage site tag on Shantiniketan. Meanwhile, the Visva Bharati University (VBU) has received flak from all corners for not inscribing the name of its founder and the first Noble Laureate of Asia, Rabindranath Tagore in the plaque installed at several heritage sites like Rabindra Bhawan, Upasana Griha, Chatimtala, Kala Bhawan, Sangeet Bhawan etc. In the marble stone plate the names of chancellor Narendra Modi and vice chancellor Professor Bidyut Chakraborty are only etched.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was one of the protesters and has already posted in his X handle the photograph of the plaque and has heavily criticised the Narendra Modi government for the missing name of Rabindranath Tagore. “Earlier the names of Jawaharlal Nehru was deleted but now Rabindranath Tagore…”he posted on his X handle. Supriyo Tagore, a member of the Tagore family and a veteran ashramite said that the present VC is setting a bad precedence and it is in bad taste.

“ The names Rabindranath Tagore and Shantiniketan, his abode of peace are synonimous and people from all around the globe visit here throughout the year and it is famous because of Tagore. It looks very odd,”he said. The plaque (photo)carries the words “Unesco inscribed World Heritage Site” with dates and names of the PM who is the chancellor and VC Professor Bidyut Chakraborty. So far VBU has not given any official statement on this ongoing controversy