Traders, handicrafts bodies demand holding Poush Mela
Poush Mela used to be jointly organised by the Santiniketan Trust and Visva-Bharati University. Last time the Poush Mela was held at the Purba Pally Ground was in 2019.
Visva-Bharati University (VBU) in Bolpur celebrated Rabindra Jayanti for the first time after Rabindranath Tagore’s abode Santiniketan bagged the Unesco World Cultural Heritage Site tag last year.
Acting vice-chancellor of VBU, Professor Sanjay Kumar Mallick took part in the celebrations on Rabindra Jayanti today.
The celebrations started with baitalik, Brahma upasana, chanting of Vedic mantras. Cultural events took place this morning today.
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The main cultural event took place at Madhabi Bitan. Besides faculty members, students, ashramites, alumni and other locals were also present during the celebrations throughout the day.
On 17 September 2023, Santiniketan received the World Cultural Heritage Site tag. It is the only living university to receive such status in the world.
Rabindranath Tagore had spent a majority of his time at Santiniketan and was associated with several works. Earlier VBU used to publish cultural books on the occasion of Rabindra jayanti, but since the past five years, publication has been stopped due to shutting of the printing press.
“We really feel proud that Santiniketan has received the Unesco tag and this year the Rabindra Jayanti celebration has become even more special,” said veteran ashramite Supriyo Tagore.
Since the retirement of VC Professor Bidyut Chakraborty last year, there has been no further controversy and slowly the central varsity has returned back to its normalcy.
The strained relationship with the state government has also now been a matter of the past and relationships have improved after the present acting vice-chancellor took over the charge last year.
Poush Mela last year and Basant Utsav this year have also been celebrated along with the help of the state government at Santiniketan and Bolpur.
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