Kolkata, Feb 5 : Till the beginning of last month the row between the university vice-chancellor and the Nobel laureate was within some basic limits of decency, restricted to two-way communication. However, things changed last month when Sen in an interview acknowledged the quality of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to occupy the chair of the Prime Minister of the country. A political hullabaloo erupted over this observation of Sen, ignoring his supplementary observations on this point. While Sen's acknowledgment of the quality of the chief minister was highlighted, his related observations where he expressed doubts about how far Mamata Banerjee would be a uniting factor for the anti-BJP opposition were totally ignored. Later Sen explained that although he acknowledged the quality of Mamata Banerjee on this count he never said that she was the only political leader possessing such quality.

It started when the vice chancellor of Visva Bharati University, Bidyut Chakraborty started accusing Sen of illegally occupying 1.38 acres of land which is in excess of his legal entitlement of 1.25 acres. However, the Nobel laureate refuted the allegation claiming the original 1.25 acres was gifted to his grandfather late Kshitimohan Sen who was the second vice- chancellor of Visva Bharati University. Later Sen`s father late Asutosh Sen, who was also a professor with the same university, purchased the remaining 13 decimals of land, which is at the centre of the dispute.