Nearly 5,000 students will participate in a 2.5-km “Run for Viksit Bharat” event on May 8, Delhi University (DU) said in a statement on Thursday. The announcement was made following a meeting held earlier in the day between university officials and Kuljeet Singh Chahal, BJP leader and New Delhi Municipal Council member.
The event is part of the Viksit Bharat programme, which was launched by the Prime Minister in December last year, and is aimed at giving a platform to the youth to contribute thoughts to the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat @2047’ — the idea of a developed India by 2047, the 100th year of Independence.
While the university said the event’s objective was to “bring awareness in the society to make Bharat a developed nation by 2047”, some academics termed it “a misuse of educational institutions”.
Maya John, a professor and member of DU’s Academic Council, said, “Educational institutions should be neutral and autonomous. The Viksit Bharat programmes in educational institutions, therefore, represent a serious violation of the Model Code of Conduct [MCC]. The Election Commission of India [EC] should take immediate note of the practice.”
The MCC states that the party in power, at the Centre or in the State, must not use its official position for election campaigning. The MCC came into force on March 16 when the EC announced the general election schedule. Delhi is slated for voting on May 25.
In the months following the rollout of the Viksit Bharat scheme, dedicated cells created in universities and a multitude of seminars conducted on the theme. A professor from every college was appointed as a nodal officer for the programme.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a nodal officer said, “University officials are conducting election campaigns in the name of Viksit Bharat. Each of us has been asked to register 100 students [for the May 8 event].”
The officer added that no notification for Viksit Bharat events was issued since the MCC’s enforcement and that the next week’s event would be the first under the programme since the announcement of the general election.
