In a first, Visva Bharati – founded by Rabindranath Tagore and West Bengal’s only Central university – has rescheduled its semester tests so that Vidya Bharati Uchcha Shiksha Sansthan (VBUSS), the higher educational wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), can hold its Bharat Boudh IKS (Indian Knowledge Systems) examination on the campus on January 31.
HT has seen a copy of Visva Bharati’s official notification to this effect.
The Bharat Boudh IKS exam, a part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, will be held simultaneously at hundreds of centres across all states.
The Visva Bharati’s decision has triggered strong reaction among Bengal’s educationists and members of the Tagore family with many calling it “saffronisation” of a campus set up at Santiniketan in Birbhum district in 1921 by Tagore.
“As desired, the undersigned is directed by Competent Authority to convey the following in respect of conducting the Bharat Boudh IKS Examination on January 31, 2026: The concerned departments/centres/Bhawans shall ensure that no UG/PG semester-end examinations will be held from January 29, 2026 to February 2, 2026 and notified accordingly,” said the Visva Bharati’s December 11 notification issued by the joint registrar of examinations.
The great grandson of Rabindranath’s brother Satyendranath Tagore, Supriyo Tagore, 86, still lives in Santiniketan where he grew up.
“This is a dangerous trend. I feel hurt. Visva Bharati is changing fast. I cannot imagine that it is altering its examination schedule for an RSS wing,” Supriyo Tagore told HT.
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Referring to India as Bharat, the Bharat Boudh IKS website says it “is a transformative educational project of Vidya Bharati Uchcha Shiksha Sansthan, aimed at reconnecting youth with Bharatiya Knowledge Systems (BKS) through structured examinations, cultural integration and modern applications.”
“It seeks to ignite pride, curiosity and wisdom rooted in Bharat’s rich intellectual traditions. By integrating BKS into competitive exams and festivals rooted in Bharatiya traditions, we strive to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and modern education,” the site adds.
Visva Bharati’s own under-graduate and postgraduate semester examinations are scheduled to be held between January 7 and February 10, faculty members said.
“The RSS is widely viewed as a Right-wing organisation and its name has been linked to communal incidents. It is very unfortunate that an internationally acclaimed institute and a UNESCO world heritage site like Visva Bharati is offering space to RSS,” a senior faculty member said, requesting anonymity.
Visva Bharati spokesperson Atig Ghosh could not be contacted by HT despite several efforts on Wednesday but he told a section of the district media that the departments were only asked not to hold any exam between January 29 and February 2 and no such exam was scheduled for that period till the notice was issued.
Ghosh also told the local media that like all Central universities, Visva Bharati, too, has to follow the Centre’s directions.
To be sure, HT accessed a letter issued by the Jammu and Kashmir higher education department in which Dr (Prof) Seema Naz, the nodal principal of Kashmir division colleges, wrote to all college principals on December 11, the same day Visva Bharati issued its notification.
Her letter said: “It is intimated that Vidya Bharati Uchcha Shiksha Sansthan is organising the Bharat Boudh IKS National Examination on January 31 and February 1, 2026 across the country to promote the integration of Bharatiya Knowledge Systems (BKS) in higher education as envisaged in National Education Police (NEP) 2020.”
The information, Naz wrote, should be “circulated for wider communication, students’ registration and examination management.”
A philosopher and one of the founders of the Brahmo religion, Debendranath Tagore moved from Kolkata to Birbhum in 1863 to pursue an ascetic life. His son, Rabindranath, who never underwent institutionalised education as a child, moved to Santiniketan around 1900, five years before his father’s death.
After winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1913, Tagore envisioned an open air campus and Visva-Bharati came up in 1921. It was declared a Central university through an Act passed by the Parliament in 1951, ten years after Tagore died. His son, Rathindranath, became the first vice-chancellor in 1951. Since then, only Prime Ministers have held the post of the chancellor.
Educationist and former vice-chancellor of Kolkata’s Rabindra Bharati University, Pabitra Sarkar said organisations like RSS should not use the Visva Bharati campus.
“It is highly undesirable that an autonomous institution like Visva Bharati will allow RSS to use its campus for any purpose. I protest. Things would have been different had a similar autonomous university approached Visva Bharati,” Sarkar said.
The issue has prompted many to recount the controversies that rocked the sprawling campus and state politics over the last three years.
In 2023, Visva Bharati charged Nobel laureate economist Amartya Sen with illegally occupying 13 decimals of the 1.38 acres of his ancestral leased land on the campus.
He said, “I am a target because I voice my views on a secular India where Hindus and Muslims should live in peace. Gandhi and Nehru wanted that.”
Sen subsequently won the lawsuit.
In October 2023, the university installed some plaques marking the inclusion of Santiniketan township in the UNESCO world heritage list. These had the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the acharya (chancellor) and the then vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty but there was no mention of Tagore. The plaques were removed two months later after wide protests.
Last month, the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) targeted the saffron camp when the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Karnataka MP Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said, “Jana Gana Mana was written to welcome British officials.”
Kolkata-based political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said, “The Vidya Bharati chain of schools run across all states, including Bengal, by the RSS are legal and recognised. So is this examination which all colleges have been asked to incorporate by the NEP. The problem lies elsewhere.”
“Vidya Bharati has many centres in Bengal. The examination could have been held there as well. Alternatively, they could have approached other state universities or schools. It is unthinkable that Visva Bharati rescheduled its examinations for this,” Bandopadhyay added.
State BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar, who is also an RSS member, defended the holding of the exam at Visva Bharati.
“Many RSS members are also in the BJP. That does not mean all BJP members and workers are swayam sevaks. Why are people saying that Visva Bharati has been saffronised? If it lets out some examination halls to an organisation, be it the RSS or TMC, how does that affect its character?” Sarkar told HT.
