Fergusson students protest against puja in college premises

Pune: Students of the city’s prestigious Fergusson College on Friday opposed a Satyanarayan puja, which was being held at the admission office of the institute. The students said that educational institutions cannot follow rituals of any particular religion and also demanded the principal be suspended.  

When the students came across the notice board, which invited all for the prasad between 11am to 5pm, they confronted the principal.

Kuldip Ambekar, from the Loktantrik Janata Dal students’ association, said, “We students are new to the college but when we learnt about the puja, we confronted the principal, Ravindra Pardeshi, who
said that the college is following tradition.

“We are going to meet education minister Vinod Tawde and ask him about the Maharashtra government circular,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Pardeshi only said, “The puja is organised by the non-teaching staff for many years.”

The Sambhaji Brigade too opposed it, saying they will donate scientific articles to the college.