The Freethought Party of India (FPI) has urged an immediate halt to all religious worships, shifting of the Saraswati idol in the main gate and demolition of all temples in the Utkal University campus.
In a memorandum to the Governor and Chancellor of Universities Dr Sc Jamir, the party general secretary Ramchandra CST Voltaire said that by resorting to religious rituals like the Rath Yatra, the Utkal University was violating the Constitutional principles.
It also protested the huge spending of Rs 4.94 lakh for installation of the goddess Saraswati statue n the main gate of the university.
There was a statue when the university campus was inaugurated way back in 1963. The statue was installed during the Vice Chancellorship of Prof lN Mishra.
Slamming the decision of the then syndicate of the university for deciding to install th statue in 2004, the FPI said the money spent for the statue should be collected from the then VC Prof Mishra and the syndicate members with interest.
It also slammed the Rath Yatra festival in the campus.
Every year Rs 60,000 is spent towards the fest what the FPI said ‘pointless and entirely unreasonable’. It said there are as many as 21 Hindu temples standing for commercial purposes in different parts of the university campus and there is a bar on imparting religious instruction in any academic institution wholly maintained out of State funds as per Article 28(1) of the Constitution of India.
The party also objected to the monthly payment made to the Brahmins / priests who perform Pujas and appealed to the Governor for complete religious cleansing of the university campus by demolishing all Hindu religious structures.