Over 50 writers, thinkers and activists have written to Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar against Vishnu Vardhan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Horticulture Sciences, Bagalkot, for inviting the public to a religious ceremony in his official residence, on his official letter pad.
They objected strongly to this act and sought disciplinary action against the Vice-Chancellor. They alleged that the invitation made attendance mandatory.
The Vice-Chancellor has invited all the officers, teaching and non-teaching staff, and students of the main campus of the university, on behalf of his family, to the Sri Satyanarayana Puja, Navagraha Shanti Homa, and Sri Mahaganapati Puja Programme in his official residence on the campus. The Vice-Chancellor has signed the letter. A copy of the invite was attached to the email sent to the Chief Minister.
An individual’s faith and the functioning of a public institution are different issues. There should be no attempt to mix them by public officials, it said.
If Satyanarayana Puja and Navagraha Homa are all personal beliefs of an individual, then there can be no objection to it. But making the same belief public through an invitation made mandatory for all staff and students using the official letterhead of the university, the official signature of the Vice-Chancellor, and the name of the Vice-Chancellor is condemnable.
India is a secular and democratic country. The Constitution asks each citizen to promote the spirit of inquiry and the scientific spirit. Universities are centres of knowledge. They are supposed to transcend caste, religion, and beliefs. It is against the spirit of the Constitution and the State government service rules for the head of such an institution to impose a particular religious practice on the institution by using the power of his position. Following such a letter, subordinate employees and students will not have the courage to reject the invitation from the Vice-Chancellor. This is an indirect imposition, the email said.
It is alarming that such practices are becoming “normal” in all the universities of the State in recent days. It is regrettable and condemnable that the Chancellors appointed by the government are acting like priests of religious practices, they said. They demanded that the government suspend the Vice-Chancellor and issue orders to all universities and colleges that no religious ceremony should be held in the name of the institution or in government buildings.
Activist Basavaraj Sulibhavi, educationists Niranjanaradhya V.P., Anil Hosamani, Dalit ideologue, H.S. Anupama, writer and physician, journalists Chandrakanth Vaddu, Sanat Kumar Belagali and Gangadhar Hiregutti, theatre personality B. Suresh, writers Veerabhadrappa, Mudnakuda Chinnaswamy, Nataraja S. Budalu, Vasundhara Bhupathi, Vijayamma, K. Phaniraj, Rajendra Potdar, retired professor, UAS, Dharwad, and others have signed the letter.
Published – August 12, 2026 12:47 am IST
