New Delhi:The Prime Minister’s visit to Delhi University to address the closing ceremony of the centenary celebrations triggered controversy as the constituent colleges of the varsity have sent out circulars instructing the students to refrain from wearing black dress and to have a compulsory presence during the live streaming of the program.
No blacks, five days attendance bonanza-Institutions like Hindu College issued quirky notices urging students not to wear black dress on the day of the centenary celebrations. In a special notice issued by the HOD of the Chemistry Department of Hindu College, the administration mandated the presence of all the students during the live streaming.
The notice also instructed that none can come wearing black dress for the event. It also offered “five attendance days for attending the live streaming event. It will be submitted to college.” Hansraj College, too, issued a similar notice saying that “students must attend the live streaming in the auditorium…”
Protests by student organisations-SFI said that it was absolutely condemnable to issue such dictatorial instructions from any college. AISA accused the university of canceling the Eid holidays in its bid to welcome PM Modi. "Now, desperate to please him, principals of colleges across DU are coming up with objectionable notices to make students' presence mandatory."
Eid holidays cancelled-Poster campaigns and protests were launched by the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students Association (AISA). They have posed several questions to the PM on a variety of students' issues. The SFI while condemning the DU for holiday cancellation, said, "This can be seen as a sinister move to separate a particular community from the rest." The left wing students' organisation said the DU administration through its notice announced to observe the gazetted holiday of Eid as a working day for all university employees. It has been mentioned that those who want to celebrate the festival on June 29 are exempted from coming to the office.
Questions to PM-Some of questions posed by AISA to PM Modi - "Why are fees increasing every year in our colleges? Why are we forced to study courses we didn't choose? Why Ambedkar, Gandhi courses are being dropped?" Why has the government cut funding on education? Why has the unemployment rate risen to 8.1%? Why are our teachers who have taught us for years being thrown out of university?"
The posters put up against the PM have been removed by the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat) and the administration. AISA said that even though the posters are being removed, they will continue to ask these questions to the PM, who, they said, was not taking any steps to stop decline of the university.
