The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu has run into controversy after students were allegedly warned of a Rs 500 fine for failing to attend a Deepak Prakashan, or earthen lamp lighting ceremony, held on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.
According to a purported communique issued by the IIM Student Council, students who were absent from the September 17 ceremony were asked to submit a written explanation, with the event described as mandatory. The communique reportedly stated that exemptions would be considered only on medical grounds, and only if supported by an official note from the campus medical facility, Sanjeevni, specifically recommending bed rest. Students who failed to respond were warned they would face a Rs 500 fine.
IIM Jammu confirmed in a post on X that it had organised a lamp-lighting ceremony at the main reception of its academic block on September 17 to mark Modi’s birthday and reflect on India’s growth journey under the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. The event was attended by BJP MLA Yudhvir Sethi and presided over by IIM Jammu Director Prof B.S. Sahay.
The move drew sharp criticism from opposition leaders. Senior Congress leader and the party’s Jammu and Kashmir in-charge, Syed Nasir Hussain, questioned why attendance at the Prime Minister’s birthday celebration should be made mandatory for students, asking whether it reflected an academic responsibility or amounted to political publicity being brought onto campus. He said educational institutions should nurture independent thinking rather than compel students to attend political celebrations under threat of penalties, adding that “BJP’s publicity stunts should be kept out of our premier educational institutions.”
Bihar MP Suhakar Singh also criticised the move in a post on X, saying students had been issued notices threatening a fine for not lighting diyas on the Prime Minister’s birthday, with the event described as mandatory and written explanations demanded from those absent. He questioned the rationale behind the fine, suggesting sarcastically that a direct order barring admission to IITs and IIMs for anyone who did not participate in such glorification would be more transparent.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
