Panjab University (PU) has shifted the venue of its women’s empowerment symposium, scheduled for Monday, from the New Convention Centre on campus to the Tagore Theatre in Sector 18.
The change comes in the backdrop of students’ opposition to two “RSS-linked” speakers at the programme, and a day after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had a clash with members of the Sath party on campus.
The “Shakti and Srishti” programme, organised under PU’s Viksit Bharat@2047 initiative and themed “Recognising the role of women as the architect of a sustainable world,” features Sadhvi Ritambhara, the founder of Vatsalyagram, as a keynote speaker, while V Shanta Kumari of the Rashtra Sevika Samiti will be the chief guest.
Vice-chancellor Renu Vig is the chief patron, with Naveen, DANICS, director of social welfare, women and child development, as the guest of honour.
The event also includes a light-and-sound show on Ahilyabai Holkar, directed by Mukesh Sharma of Samvaad Theatre Group, and an exhibition of textile, apparel, lifestyle and food products.
The New Convention Centre, PU’s multipurpose auditorium in Sector 25, was operationalised only recently, and had hosted its debut event in March 2026 after 17 years of construction delays and cost overruns since its foundation was laid in 2009.
The facility is the largest auditorium in north India, with a 25,800 sq ft stage, seating capacity of 2,500 and parking for 800 vehicles.
Senior varsity officials maintained that the venue was changed by the organisers in mutual coordination, but added that the shift was also meant to avoid any unnecessary controversy.
A students’ group, under the banner “PU against saffronisation,” has been opposing the participation of the two speakers, whom it identifies as “RSS-linked”, and had submitted a memorandum to the administration seeking the programme’s cancellation. The group, backed by the Punjab Students Union (Lalkaar), had announced a protest for July 18.
Authorities are also treading carefully in the aftermath of Friday’s campus clash between ABVP and Sath party members over the setting up of an admission helpdesk which had left several students injured. With PU elections about a month-and-a-half away and apprehensions of tempers flaring, the V-C has asked the dean students welfare to convene an all-party meeting on maintaining decorum on campus.
