Forced to attend Piyush Goyal’s event in Mumbai college: Students

A screenshot from the viral video

In a viral video circulating on social media, a student from Thakur College of Science & Commerce in Kandivali can bee seen questioning Dhruv Goyal, the son of BJP leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, about the college's apparent decision to mandate compulsory attendance at a session led by him which was held on Friday, even confiscating student ID cards to ensure the students followed through.

In the video, a student dressed in a black t-shirt is seen addressing Goyal during a QnA interaction, asking, "Do you think this system, this Thakur College administration, is [being] democratic by confiscating students' IDs and making them attend this compulsorily?" The crowd seated at the event erupted into cheers and applause after the student posed the question.

According to the students, many expressed their inability to attend the event on Friday to the college's staff, due to exams scheduled on Saturday. "Our ID cards were confiscated, and we were informed that attending the session was mandatory. We were even warned that failing to attend would result in being marked absent for the entire day. We attended the event under duress," said a BMM student. They added that after Goyal's session ended, principal Chaitali Chakraborty and other college authorities scolded the students, claiming that their behaviour was inappropriate.

Dhruv Goyal

Criticising the college's alleged diktat, Congress leader and former minister Varsha Gaikwad wrote on X: "This video from Thakur college in Mumbai shows how the BJP creates the illusion of a captive audience by literally holding them captive... @ECISVEEP should you not be taking suo moto action in this case? Why the delay?"

In a series of posts on X, the Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote, "Students of Thakur College in Mumbai were forced to attend Dhruv Goyal, son of Union Minister Piyush Goyal session [sic]. The students say their ids were confiscated to ensure that they are compulsorily present when he speaks. What a shame!" She added that Piyush Goyal will be contesting the election from the constituency where the college is located.

An official statement issued by the college's principal Chaitali Chakraborty asserted that the event was aimed at encouraging the students to participate in the upcoming general elections, and termed the now-viral video as being manipulated with "political motivations". "As part of this initiative, we were honoured to welcome Mr Dhruv Goyal for a meaningful dialogue with these first-time voters. We have been made aware of a situation involving Ms Priyanka Chaturvedi, who has disseminated a manipulated video pertaining to this interaction, seemingly with political motivations. This has led to an unwarranted controversy, overshadowing what was an otherwise successful and well-received event," the statement read.

The statement further stated that the issue is under review by the college. "It is our belief that educational settings should remain apolitical, focused on the enrichment and empowerment of our students rather than becoming arenas for political contention," it reads.