NO RELIGIOUS PREACHING ON CAMPUS, IIT-B TELLS STUDENTS

MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Technology-bombay (IITB) has warned its students against engaging in religious preaching on campus, after authorities found some senior students and externa organisations proselytising and distributing pamphlets outside the institute gate and hostels.

In an email to all the students Soumyo Mukherji, dean, students affair, wrote that these activities are against the rules of the hostels adding those who participate in them will be punished.

Another email by editors of Insight, IITB’S in-house maga zine, suggests there have been many recent instances of differ ent religious and cultural groups from outside the institute visiting campus, with the help of senior students and staff and indulging students, especially freshmen in proselytising activities. “We came across multiple instances of pamphlet distribution around hostels and outside the main gate inviting students to these group activities. These cultural groups claim to be conducting sessions to benefit students, but in truth have been found proselytising religious beliefs on campus,” read the mail

According to sources, severa groups cutting across religious lines are active on campus. While students belonging to Tableegh Jamat — the movement to promote Islam — court other students in the hostels, Hindu neo-spiritual groups often promote workshops on yoga and stress management