DU students' union calls college play 'anti-Hindu, seeks ban

The Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) has written to the principal of a college here asking him to ban his students from performing a play which it claimed was "anti-Hindu".
"It has come to my notice that the drama society of SGTB college is playing a drama (sic) which is anti-Hindu and giving a wrong message to society.
"It (the society) is showing inhumanity by presenting a fake drama on Hindus and Hinduism," Aashutosh Mathur, the Joint Secretary of DUSU, said in the March 17 letter to the principal of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa college, Jaswinder Singh.
"You are requested to take strong action against the (dramatics) society and ban it with immediate effect, otherwise the students' union will protest at a higher level against it," added the joint secretary of DUSU, whose current panel is led by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students' wing of BJP.

The play, entitled, 'Welcome To The Machine', has been written and directed by members of SGTB college's dramatics society, 'Ankur', and it has been performed 36 times at different locations in the national capital.
The president of the society, Guneet Singh Nanda, slammed DUSU and said they would be performing the play near the union body's office as a mark of protest.

"The principal had discussed the letter with us and we decided not to reply to it. But we will be performing the play near the DUSU office in a reply to their demand for a ban," Nanda said.

"We have named a few characters in the play based on political leaders and have highlighted the controversies courted by them through their statements but have not taken on any religion and are not spreading any wrong message," he added.
SGTB College Principal Singh refused to comment on the issue.