12 Santiniketan: Visva-Bharati has decided not to make Basanta Utsav a public event this year. The event, which celebrates the advent of spring, was last open to the public in 2019.
This year, after the V-B authorities had decided to throw open its doors to people for Poush Mela, it was widely believed that it would do the same for Basanta Utsav. On Friday, after a long meeting, the V-B authorities decided against it. The V-B stated it will be an institutional event, and not a public event, this year. V-B will organise Basanta Utsav on March 11, two days before the Dol festival, which will be celebrated on March 14.
After being a public event in 2019, Basanta Utsav was not held in 2020 due to Covid protocol. In 2021, 2022, and 2023, only Basanta Bandana was organised by the students, teachers, employees and special invitees. Last year, the first Basanta Utsav after the end of former VC Bidyut Chakraborty's tenure, did not allow outsiders.
Atig Ghosh, the PRO of Visva-Bharati, said: "It was unanimously resolved that Basanta Utsav would be organised on March 11 and only the students, teachers, former students and ashramiks will be allowed to take part in it."
Debasish Roy, the joint secretary of Karmi Mandali, the body that organises the university's cultural events, said: "We have decided that we'll organise Basanta Utsav and it won't be open to the public. It will begin on the evening of March 10. On March 11, the processions would start from Santiniketan Bari, and a cultural programme would be held at Gour Prangan. No one from the V-B family wants to organise Basanta Utsav as a public event. It often leads to security hazards."
Anil Konar, a member of Santiniketan Trust, said: "This is V-B's own festival. So Basanta Bandana can be held the way the university authority chooses to."