Swapan Dasgupta Urges Revival of Calcutta University’s Legacy
Times of India | 27 June 2026
Kolkata: Finance minister Swapan Dasgupta said that the best tribute to Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee will be to restore the glorious tradition of Calcutta University. He requested vice chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh to take small steps in that direction and also assured of necessary assistance to establish the preeminence of the varsity.
Dasgupta was the chief guest and delivered a talk at the event — Syama Prasad Mookerjee Smriti Paksha — at the Senate hall of Calcutta University on Saturday.
Mookerjee was the youngest VC of CU.
“If we want to honour Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, I think the best tribute to him is if we can restore the glorious tradition of Calcutta University. So Ashutosh Babu, (Ashutosh Ghosh), you have a big responsibility. Please take small steps to move forward as long as the direction is clear,” Dasgupta said.
He added that CU is not a provincial university but a varsity for all of India, maybe for the whole of Asia and urged to take measures to make it “not only a centre of excellence but a centre of universal excellence”.
Pointing out to the “ intellectual legacy” of CU, Dasgupta spoke of the convocation speeches of that time and the things to ponder upon, right from Curzon’s speech. He said, “Calcutta University has a rich legacy. If we look at the history of modern India, we cannot ignore its contribution. It is not only because of Dr Radhakrishnan or C V Raman but the kind of research that was done here in different fields such as Tibetan, Pali, Prakrit, Archeology and Sanskrit. This had an immense contribution. Can we say that we are practicing these disciplines in the same way?”
He later said, “I assure you that we will take whatever steps are necessary in the coming days to establish the preeminence of CU, but it has to be targeted. You cannot think of higher education without CU. If we want to bring back the lost glory of Bengal, Calcutta University has a big role to play in reviving Bengal.”
VC Ghosh appealed to the state for support to restore CU as a world-class centre of education and research.