CHENNAI: Did their protest in support of the traditional Tamil sport, Jallikattu, cost the students of the prestigious College of Engineering, Guindy, their popular campus techno-cultural festival?
On Wednesday afternoon, within hours of the students assembling, holding placards and protesting within the University campus seeking repealing the ban on Jallikattu during this Pongal festival, an issue that has gained traction in the political and social circles, the student representatives allegedly received a message from the dean of the college, informing them that the campus techno-cultural event, Techofes, and all symposiums scheduled by various departments stand cancelled.
Techofes is the annual cultural festival of the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), held in mid February, which draws about 40,000 students from more than 250 colleges across South India.
According to some students and alumni, the message from the dean, P Narayanasamy, was received around 2 PM.
"Good morning my dear students. There are so many ways to represent your concern about Jallikattu. Instead if you boycott the classes then I will not be in a position to support you and you may have to meet the consequences. It has been decided in HODs meeting, all symposiums and Techofes 2017 stand cancelled," (sic) it read, alleged the students.
According to the students, this was sent to all the representatives of the departments and students' president of CEG. The matter gained further attention after students informed alumni members who enquired about the details of the events and symposiums scheduled for this edition in the Facebook group, CEGAM (CEG Alumni meet).
A final year student from the Department of Mechancial Engineering said that the event is an important cultural fest for the students. More importantly, "Symposiums conducted by every departments are very important. It is a technical fest where students come up with innovations, and facilitate industry-academia interaction. They should not cancel symposiums," said another concerned student.
It has also led to the students harden their stance over Jallikattu. "The college officials came during the protest and said we should have taken prior permission at least a fortnight earlier to stage a protest. Since we did not take permission, they got furious and cancelled the events. We accept the cancellation but we do not want the ban on Jallikattu, a traditional sport which has been going on for centuries," said one of the students who was part of the protest.
Even if sought, it was unlikely that the authorities would grant permission for such a protest, noted another student.
However, speaking to Express, CEG dean Narayanasamy denied sending the message. "We are not cancelling the event because of the protest. This is false information spread by the students. As we are unable to secure sponsorship from the companies for fest and the symposiums, we might cancel or conduct the event in a smaller way depending on the funds. There is a meeting of the heads of departments scheduled on Thursday evening to discuss this," he said.