Not 'girls outing' but Covid protocol: AMU on cancellation of AMU literary fest 2022

By Anu Parthiban and Sanjay
NEW DELHI: The second day of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) literary festival 2022 was cancelled abrubtly by the university administration today, May 21, 2022. Students, guests are in limbo after the university issued notice without giving reason. However, AMU spokesperson Safey Kidwai told Careers360 that the event was cancelled to avoid the possible spread of the Covid-19.

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When asked about the reason for cancelling the literary fest, Safey Kidwai said, “We witnessed a heavy crowd of students in many sessions held on day 1. So, we have taken a day off. We told the students not to worry, we will have different sessions. Covid-19 protocol is still in place. Though the offline classes have started you still can not have 10,000 students together at a place. Just to avoid the possibility of its spread, we have cancelled today’s schedules. We are rescheduling the sessions.”

Clarifying that the university was not worried about the ‘girls outing’ as claimed by many on social media, he further said, “The students including girls are coming and attending classes everyday. There is no question that outing is not allowed for girl students. They move very freely on the campus. Yesterday, many students came from other universities and colleges and were here on campus till 10 pm. That may be the reason it is being said on social media that we were worried about the outing of female students.”

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Meanwhile, a member of AMU's Debating and Library Club (organiser of lit fest) on the condition of anonymity said, "Administration is pressuring us to cancel the event. Probably, they are under pressure from VC and government authorities. AMU Lit Fest was scheduled to host eminent guests such as Raghuram Rajan, Rohit Khanna and Hartosh Singh Bal."

The three-day long AMU literary festival 2022 started on May 20 in hybrid mode and it was scheduled to conclude on May 23. Yesterday, four sessions were held at Kennedy Auditorium. Six sessions including one in virtual mode by former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan was scheduled to take place today.