New Delhi: After the Centre for Narendra Modi Studies (CNMS) announced an essay writing competition on the theme “how Prime Minister Narendra Modi strengthened India’s global relations”, IIT Kharagpur has asked its students to participate, The Telegraph reported.
The newspaper cited an IIT official as saying that students were asked to take part in the competition following the receipt of a circular from the Union education ministry.
An email from the Technology Students’ Gymkhana at IIT Kharagpur cited the institute’s director as exhorting students to “participate with full vigour so that we are able to bag the first prize in the competition”, The Telegraph‘s report also said.
Based in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, the Centre for Narendra Modi Studies says it is an “independent trust” and counts among its objectives the organisation of programmes “on the theme of [the] life, thoughts and achievements of Narendra Modi”.
It announced its “all India” essay writing competition last month, offering prizes worth Rs 10,000, Rs 7,500 and Rs 5,000 for the winner and two runners-up respectively that it said it would distribute on Modi’s birthday on September 17.
Then-Chhattisgarh governor Biswabhusan Harichandan, who was replaced by Ramen Deka later last month, would be chief guest at the event, the Centre said, adding that the event was scheduled to be held at Delhi’s prominent India International Centre.
The CNMS’s announcement said Modi “has significantly improved India’s relationships with countries around the world by working closely with them”.
“His leadership has led to stronger trade and cultural ties, as well as strategic partnerships. PM Modi’s actions have made India more influential globally, promoting peace and prosperity among nations,” it continued.
Jasim Mohammad, who chairs the CNMS, told The Wire in an interview last year that upon meeting Modi, he felt the prime minister “was not a person” and that “Narendra Modi is the name of a thought, it is an ideology and a school of thought”.
The CNMS, which had Union minister and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief guest at an event it co-hosted earlier this year to mark the Emergency’s anniversary, also organised an essay writing competition last year.
Speaking to The Telegraph, a research scholar at IIT Kharagpur said of this year’s competition: “We have heard that other IITs have sent a similar circular to their students asking them to participate in the competition.”
Earlier this year, the University Grants Commission asked higher education institutions to screen a speech Modi was scheduled to give and asked that posters of ‘Viksit Bharat’ featuring the prime minister be placed at program venues, The Telegraph reported in March.
Last year, some colleges of Delhi University made it mandatory for students to attend a live telecast of its centenary celebrations, where Modi was to be chief guest. Hindu College offered students five days of attendance points in exchange for their attendance.
