A day after a student wrote an open letter to the administration of Jindal Global University (JGU) over its decision to hold a ‘Viksit Bharat’ event on Sunday, the university informed its students in an email on Saturday that they would postpone the event, citing the date to be “too close to examinations”.
The event — ‘Democracy in Action Programme (DIAP)’ — scheduled to be held on Sunday, was announced by the university on Friday, and described to be an opportunity giving selected students a chance to “work closely with the Chancellor of JGU, Mr. Naveen Jindal, a candidate for Lok Sabha poll from the Kurukshetra constituency” in Haryana. It had asked volunteers to apply for the programme.
Hours after the announcement of DIAP, a student who did not wish to be named wrote an open letter to the administration, alleging that the event was being used to get university students to “campaign for a particular party’s candidate”.
The letter added that the event was being held in contravention of an office order dated February 12, which prohibits students from officially associating the university with any political organisation.
On early Saturday morning, the administration told the students via email: Despite the short notice of the announcement, it is wonderful to see many of you volunteered to be part of the programme and expressed your interest. Given the timing of the academic session, we are not able to implement the programme.”
The email added that the programme would be held at a later date with a “wider participation of students”.
Delhi University, too, has organised a ‘Viksit Bharat Run’ on May 8 — a move that was widely criticised by teachers’ bodies in the university, who deemed it a “violation of the Model Code of Conduct”.
