The Jaintia Students’ Union (JSU) of Shillong Circle has strongly opposed the decision of installing religious idols in the premises of National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya.
In a letter recently addressed to the director of NIT Meghalaya, the JSU urged the administration of the technical institute to cancel out the idea of installment of an idol of Lord Ganesha at the entrance point of director’s secretariat in the institute.
The idol of Lord Ganesha had been already installed by NIT Meghalaya at the entrance point of director’s secretariat on Monday.
The students union claimed that the erection of the idol of a Hindu God may hurt the religious sentiments of students and staff of other religions in the institute.
The JSU suggested that the administration may reconsider erection of a sculpture of some renowned personality from educational fields in place of installing a religious idol.
It may be mentioned that NIT Meghalaya is one among the thirty NITs in India established under the NIT Act 2007 (Amended 2012) of the Parliament of India as Institutes of National Importance with full funding support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.