North Gate of Raj Bhavan in Kolkata to be named after Rabindranath Tagore

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has decided to rename the North Gate at the Raj Bhavan here after Rabindranath Tagore.

According to Raj Bhavan insiders, the Governor's decision, which came ahead of Bose completing a year in the post, was taken in an effort to honour the Nobel Laureate.

The decision also came just two days after the Union Education Ministry asked authorities of the Visva Bharati University, which was founded by Tagore, to remove controversial' plaques commemorating Unesco awarding the World Heritage Site status to Santiniketan from the university campus, since the name of founder was not inscribed on them.

The Ministry sent a notice in which it sought the immediate removal of three plaques, which have the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the Chancellor of the central university, and former Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty inscribed on them, but not Tagore's and instead replace the plaques with the ones having the name of Tagore as the founder inscribed on them.

The insiders further said that the Governor has also sought a report from the Visva Bharati University authorities on the progress as regards to the replacement of the controversial plaques.

The Governor himself had been vocal since the beginning against the controversial plaques and said that since Tagore is in true sense a representative of global culture the plaques at the university founded by him should always have his name inscribed on them.

The controversial plaques sans Tagore's name had created ripples in the political circles of the state, with leaders cutting across party lines condemning their installation.

Both Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari had urged the Union government to replace the plaques with those having the name Tagore inscribed on them.