When Bengal’s Visva Bharati University turns gau rakshak

First there was the proposal by the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University for a battle tank on campus that made screaming headlines. Now, Visva Bharati University (VB) in West Bengal wants to revive a goshala (cow shelter) on the premises “in order to materialise Rabindranath Tagore’s dream”. Not just that, “the university dreams to set up a world-rank cow-house”.

The proposal of the university, established by Rabindranath Tagore, is already drawing criticism as it is being seen as an attempt to please the central government, which is very much focused on cow protection and also funding the goshala revival plan. “Currently, the university has 15 cows and we will get more soon. We will undertake responsibility to set up the goshala,” said registrar Amit Hazra. In the past, the varsity practised cattle-rearing on campus for nursery students, and the milk and paneer were given to residential students and teaching and non-teaching staff.

The goshala in Patha Bhavana – a residential school for elementary and secondary education that prepares students for VB’s school certificate examination – had been lying unused for 26 years and it was three months ago that the university administration decided to get 20 cows (it finally got only 15) to the old cow-shed. The proposed number of cows to be housed there has now been raised to 200 as the varsity wants to set up a grand goshala.

When the registrar was asked for the reason behind the move, he said “rearing of cows in Path Bhavana has been revived in order to materialise Rabindranath Tagore’s dream. The practice had been discontinued due to a financial crunch and we have now made the decision as the UGC is funding it”. He added that the university dreams to establish a world-rank cow-house and would approach the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for any sort of help.

The faculty, however, has mixed opinions about the goshala on campus. “The glory of Sriniketan town was in decay for quite a long time and this decision might help revive that,” said Amrit Sen, a faculty member from the department of english, welcoming the decision. Sen also said that “each and every administration will have a unique way of seeking attention and this can also be one of the reasons behind such a decision”.

Meanwhile, a report published by Ei Samay, a leading Bengali newspaper, quoted the former V-C of the university, Rajat Kanta Roy, as saying: “The administrative stakeholders of the university are not permanent officials. The project of the cowshed seems to be puzzling. The decision needs to be investigated to know if there is any political purpose behind it.”

Are there more important things on campus?

Jogen Chowdhury, a painter and former principal of the arts department, opposed the VB’s decision, saying there are more serious issues on campus which have to be resolved for the welfare of students. “Is this a policy to please the central government? The museums, hostels, and laboratories are in a deplorable condition. Instead of setting up a cowshed, the administrators should have looked into these things,” he said.

The university has been struggling with problems such as shortage of faculty, hostels and facilities. No recruitment has been undertaken in many departments for the last three years. “The estimated vacancy in our department is 25 and, currently, we have only 16 faculty members. Teachers take stress to finish the syllabus and we hardly get any chance to do lab work for lack of equipment and its poor quality,” said a postgraduate student from the education department on the condition of anonymity. Another student, Binay Bhavana, also pointed out that “the university should have given priority to these problems as they are the primary responsibility of any educational institute”.

When the registrar was asked about these shortfalls, he blamed the ministry of human resource development. “The ministry stopped recruiting faculty from 2014 and we have no role in this affair,” said Hazra, also denying allegations that VB was following in the footsteps of the BJP and RSS.

Ever since the BJP came to power with an absolute majority in 2014, universities across India have witnessed protests against their administrations, allegedly for trying to implement the policies of the central government. VB’s goshala decision is also being seen as such.

The reporter tried to reach out to V-C Swapan Kumar Datta many times through phone calls. Though his confidential secretary obtained the list of questions through email, no reply was received either on mail or phone.