The Aryavarth Express
Agency( Mumbai): The Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) have raised concerns over an incident in Mumbai’s Kandivali, where students from a local college were reportedly compelled to listen to a speech by Dhruv Goyal, the son of Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who is contesting in the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat for the BJP. According to Aaditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT), student IDs were taken to ensure attendance at the event, which coincided with the eve of their examinations.
A video shared by NCP(SP) MLA Awhad on social media platform X captures a student objecting to the forced attendance. Thakur College of Science and Commerce, the venue for the speech, defended the event as an attempt to inspire student participation in the upcoming general elections, although they admitted that the complaints regarding forced attendance were being looked into.
The college has accused Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi of circulating a misleading video for political ends. Thackeray critiqued the government’s tactics on X, questioning the value of such enforced political engagements, especially when job prospects for graduates remain bleak. The principal of Thakur College, CT Chakraborty, asserted the event’s success and positive reception, aside from the controversy stirred by Chaturvedi’s video.
Dhruv Goyal later issued an apology to the students, promising no repeat of the ID confiscation incident. MLA Awhad expressed his support for students potentially facing repercussions, underscoring the importance of student protest in sparking change.
Chaturvedi dismissed the college’s allegations against her as unfounded, emphasizing that the event’s supposed voter awareness theme was compromised by featuring only Dhruv Goyal. She revealed her intention to consider legal action against the college for defamation unless an apology is forthcoming, maintaining her stance on the importance of impartial voter education and the inappropriateness of compulsory attendance at such politically skewed events.