Durgapur: “Is this a joke? Better know the class,” said Manika Saha, NIT Durgapur’s associate dean of students’ welfare, as she stopped students dancing to the Bollywood song, ‘Chikni Chameli’ during a freshers’ orientation programme in a now-viral video.
NIT Durgapur held its student induction programme from Aug 22 to Aug 25, with all 22 campus clubs, including Radio NITroz, participating in the event. The widely circulated clip shows Saha, microphone in hand, interrupting a dance by members of Radio NITroz, which was intended to break the monotony of slide presentations and lectures.
As girls from BTech transitioned between songs, Saha stepped in. “Is this a joke? Is this an introduction? Is this entertainment? Better know the class. Before the juniors, you are dancing in this way... where is your faculty adviser? Why are they not present? Was this dance approved? Pass the message to the clubs... we will stop the performance then and there. My decision is final,” Saha is heard in the video.
Students reportedly admitted there was no formal approval for the dance and that they were performing for fun.
Contacted by TOI, Saha said she was not authorised to speak to reporters, though she did not dispute the video’s content. Insiders said Saha told her superiors and colleagues that her intervention was not about one song but a series of unapproved performances that did not blend with an official orientation. But Saha did not explain her class jibe. “She stands by her decision,” a senior academic said.
NIT Durgapur director Arvind Choubey told TOI, “We keep a close watch on all cultural programmes at the institute. Before allowing any programme to be staged, we conduct a thorough screening and grant permission only after that process. I do not know exactly what happened in this case.”
The clip has sparked mixed reactions. While some defended Saha’s decision to halt the performance, a former Radio NITroz president posted on social media: “I was with Radio NITroz from 2019 to 2022 and, along with some genuinely amazing people, helped rebuild it from the ground up into the media and entertainment club it is today. The idea was never to make it another formal college society. We wanted a space where students could experiment, perform, make people laugh and for a few minutes forget about CGPA, assignments, exams and academic stress.”