The Congress on Monday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the omission of Rabindranath Tagore's name from newly installed plaques at West Bengal's Visva-Bharati University.

Congress said after attempting Jawahar Lal Nehru's "erasure", Modi was now trying the “erasure" of the late poet.

The plaques feature Modi's name identifying him as ‘Acharya’, but missed Tagore, the founder of the university, HT reported.?

Reacting to the row, Congress called Modi the "chief peddler of fear, hate and division" and implied he was delusional.

"Erasure of Nehru wasn’t enough. Now, erasure of Rabindranath Tagore also begins," Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
Pawan Khera said the Prime Minister must consider renaming "narcissism as modicissism".

The sharpest remark, however, came from KC Venugopal.

"Rabindranath Tagore famously said - "Freedom from fear is the freedom I claim for you, my Motherland. Today, the chief peddler of fear, hate and division has now named himself "Acharya" at the great Shantiniketan, omitting Tagore altogether! Delusion knows no limits," he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, the report quoting officials said the controversial plaques would be replaced soon.

Shantiniketan town in Bengal's Birbhum district, where Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, was included in UNESCO’s world heritage list in September.

The university had installed three plaques naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty.

“The plaques are temporary in nature. They were just installed to earmark the heritage site. They would be replaced by new ones, having inscriptions provided by the Archaeological Survey of India and the UNESCO,” the report quoted Mahua Banerjee, spokesperson of the university as having said.

Tagore’s great grandson, Supriyo Thakur also expressed his displeasure over the issue, the report said.

He claimed the authorities were trying to wipe out the name of Tagore from the university, it mentioned.?

New plaques will be installed by the end of October after ASI sends the text for the inscription, the report quoting officials said.?
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