The ‘Hug of Love,’ an initiative by a group of students at Ernakulam Maharaja’s College, resulted in their suspension from the campus on Friday.
Inspired by the ‘Kiss of Love’ event held here on November 2, the youngsters rallied under the banner of ‘Hugs of Love’ against moral policing. They had also set up posters on the campus terming their effort as a hug-in protest. But the college authorities were not impressed as they pointed out that the event was against the code of conduct implemented in the college after the series of clashes involving student organisations a few weeks ago.
Principal T.V. Francy said that 10 students were suspended for 10 days for organising the programme inside the campus. They had also not informed the college authorities about such an event in advance, violating the provisions under the code of conduct, he said. Prof. Francy said that an announcement was also made on the megaphone saying students should not hold such a programme on the campus. But they went ahead with the programme even as teachers were watching, he said. “The hug protest was not in support of the earlier ‘Kiss of Love’ event, but against the moral policing that led to the attack on a café in Kozhikode recently,” said Vysakh Mohan, Maharaja’s College unit secretary of the Students’ Federation of India. He said that the organisation would hold a protest on Monday against the suspension of the students. “We are not condoning the mode of protest adopted by the group, but will uphold their right to hold a peaceful protest,” he said.
Kerala Students’ Union district president Tittu Antony said they would decide on their future course of action following a committee meeting. “Our stand was that we would neither support nor oppose the movement,” he said. Rahul Pasupalan, one of the key figures behind the ‘Kiss of Love’ event, said that he offered all support to anyone who stood against moral policing.
