Puri Shankaracharya’s visit to NIT Durgapur sparks debate
The Statesman | 9 September 2025Professor Arvind Choubey, Director of NIT Durgapur, confirmed the visit will take place on 10 and 11 September. “I invite people of all faiths to attend the programme and listen to the motivational address. There is no political agenda involved,” he stated.
On the first day, the Shankaracharya will deliver a lecture on Yuva Shakti and Bharatiya Granth Parampara. On the second day, he is expected to offer darshan and diksha to students.
However, the visit has drawn criticism from several political quarters. Biprendu Chakraborty, former CPM MLA of Durgapur, said: “The ministry of education should not permit religious events in a reputed technical institution like NIT.”
TMC leader Ujjwal Mukherjee alleged that the event is part of an RSS-driven agenda to saffronise the education system. “I’ve heard that the Shankaracharya will be giving diksha to students. This is an attempt to indoctrinate talented students of science and technology with religious teachings,” he said.
The Director, NIT, professor Arvind Choubey claimed that the NIT didn’t have any diksha programme in its schedule. He clarified: “The word diksha also surprised me as it was not in the programme. Since the programme is arranged centrally and the banner, posters arrived from Govardhan Dham, Puri where we saw it’s mentioned. We actually had decided to arrange an interactive session titled ‘Jigyasa’ where they chose to opt for diksha.”
