West Bengal Assembly passes Biswa Bangla University Bill to set up new varsity in Santiniketan

Kolkata: The West Bengal assembly on Monday passed the Biswa Bangla Biswabidyalay Bill amidst protests by the Left Front and Congress MLAs opposing the title of the legislation. [caption id=“attachment_4231955” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Education minister Partha Chatterjee with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Twitter @pc_aitc[/caption] The Bill was tabled by Education minister Partha Chatterjee who in his reply said that it was surprising to see the Opposition Left Front and Congress members objecting to the use of the word Biswa Bangla. The LF and Congress members wanted the Bill to be referred to the select committee which was declined by the Speaker Biman Banerjee. Chatterjee said the Biswa Bangla name got nothing to do with the `Biswa Bangla’ logo. He said that now they are opposing the words Biswa Bangla, later they might oppose the usage of ‘Biswa’ or ‘Bangla’. The minister said the state was having now 20 state-run and nine private universities. The government was also contemplating to set up a university in the name of Sister Nivedita to commemorate 150 years of her birth. Banerjee said that the logo ‘Biswa Bangla’ in the Bill is unrelated to the logo in the same name and the rule of sub-judice did not apply here. The legislators were supreme and sovereign and they are unfettered even when the subject matter was under sub-judice. The proposed university would be located at Bolpur in Santiniketan.