The Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication in Bhopal has said that if their students attend the Simhastha Kumbh mela in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, they’ll be granted two days of attendance from the university.

Before the start of the mela, the Government had claimed that more than five crore people would turn up for the religious affair. But so far only one crore have attended the Simhastha Kumbh mela. Consequently, the university registrar decided it was time to take things into his hands and a issued a notice to the students on April 28, 2016 that said, “‘Jo vidhyarthi is Mahakumbh Simhastha me apne parijano ke sath bhag lega unhe vishwavidyalaya ke or se vibhag me do dino ke upastithi di jayegi.” [Students who will attend the Mahakumbh Simhastha with their family members will be granted two days of attendance from the university]

An unnamed university official told Hindustan Times that this step was taken in order to “impress the government” by increasing the number of attendees in the mela. However, it is not yet clear how the university plans to keep a track of which students would actually attend the event.

Meanwhile the Congress has jumped in and blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party of mixing education with politics. “The notification has proved that the university is working as an RSS wing and they are trying to impose their ideology on students,” said KK Mishra, chief spokesperson of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

Mishra has also blamed the university of holding weekly meetings of RSS on its premises, adding a caustic suggestion that the university officials “to take a holy dip at Simhastha and make themselves pure”.

Neither the registrar Sachchidanand Joshi nor the vice chancellor of the university, BK Kuthia were available for comment on this matter.

The Mahakumbh Simhastha is being held in Ujjain after a gap of 12 years and according to the government only 25 lakh people had gathered at the ghat yesterday, for the second round of ‘Shahi Snan’ [royal bath].