Students at the Banaras Hindu University have lashed out at the administration’s directive prohibiting the celebration of Holi and playing music inside the campus.

The BHU administration has issued an Advisory order saying that there will be a complete ban on celebrating Holi and playing music on the university campus. All the students and staff should follow this order seriously. The student organizations of the university are opposing this order of the university. While speaking with ANI the students castigated the university’s guidelines on Holi and alleged that ever since Sudhir K Jain has held the post of Vice Chancellor he has repeatedly disrespected Hindu culture and tradition in the university.

Terming the decision “ridiculous”, a student said, “It is extremely disappointing that our Chief Proctor Professor Abhimanyu Singh is not aware of the Holi celebrations and the culture, we can’t celebrate Holi alone, it is a festival of joy and belongingness which can only be enjoyed at a public place along with your closed ones, should we celebrate Holi inside a shopping mall.”

The student further added that the Chief Proctor is affected by a Phobia that makes him hate the Hindu culture and festivals.

Furthermore, the students challenging the administration’s call had decided to celebrate Holi inside the campus and said that they will celebrate Holi no matter what the administration has to say. “We will celebrate Holi in public if the administration has to take any action they can.”

However, opposite to the claims made by students, BHU’s Chief Proctor Abhimanyu Singh said that the decision has been taken in view of the outsiders who enter the university premises during Holi and makes things worse.

He further detailed, that the order prohibiting the celebration of Holi has only been banned in public places, which he claimed that students knew was only limited to Roads, the temple, and hospital.

“We haven’t prohibited the celebration of Holi inside the campus, the order only details the ban on gathering in public places, we have recently finished the celebration inside our campus along with 500 students and faculties,” he added.