PRAYAGRAJ: The ‘All India Mushaira and Kavi Sammelan’, scheduled to be held at Allahabad University on Friday under the joint aegis of Uttar Pradesh Urdu Akademi, Central Cultural Committee and Urdu department of AU to mark the 75th Independence Day, was cancelled abruptly after chief guest divisional commissioner Sanjay Goyal and vice-chancellor Prof Sangita Srivastava excused themselves from attending the event.
University sources said that among the invited poets were some who had raised voice against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Shaheen Bagh protest site last year, prompting the two dignitaries to skip the event and eventually resulting in its cancellation.
The event was to be held at the historic Senate Hall of AU’s Arts faculty and all preparations were complete. However, at a time when almost all participating poets had arrived and so had the guests, including many heads of departments, deans and administrative officials, an announcement was made that the programme was being called off.
Although the university administration cited ‘unavoidable circumstances’ as the reason for cancelling the event, people close to AU administration informed TOI that this was done after the chief guest and the VC backed out from attending the function as among the invited poets were some who had raised their voice against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Shaheen Bagh last year.
“Since Friday morning, the issue was making rounds on social media which may have been the main reason for the main guests not attending the event and finally leading to the cancellation of the event,” said a senior faculty member of AU.
Social media posts even claimed that the event was called off after the intervention of the UP chief minister’s office.
AU authorities, however, refuted all such claims. AU’s public relations officer, Jaya Kapoor, on Saturday issued a press statement saying, “The programme of Kavi sammelan and mushaira proposed to be organized on Friday in the Senate Hall was cancelled. The programme was to be organized by Urdu Academy and AU and its Urdu department and the Culture Committee was giving logistical support, but some names kept in the panel of invitees were without approval.”
“The VC had nothing to do with organising details of the event. She had been invited to chair the session since the event was being organized in the Senate Hall of the university. The programme was cancelled due to unavoidable circumstances. There is no truth in media reports that the programme was cancelled at the behest of or on the intervention by either the CM office or Union ministry,” said the PRO.
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