Chandigarh: Even as Panjab University’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), which were drafted after a student was murdered on campus during a fest last year, stipulate a ban on “star nights” during campus festivals, it is not necessarily the practice.Preparations on for the Jhankar fest, organised by the PU Campus Students Council (PUCSC) president, indicate that musical evenings featuring three regional performers — a Punjabi Sufi artist, a Himachali singer and a Haryanvi singer — are being lined up. One of them has already been announced.The four-day fest is scheduled from March 15 to 18. Organisers have announced that Himachali singer Kuldeep Sharma will perform on the Law Grounds on Monday as part of the ‘Himachali star night’. Sources said the same venue is also likely to host the proposed performance by Punjabi Sufi artist, expected to be one of the highlights of the fest, besides a Haryanvi singer.Sources associated with the organising team said the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) unit is coordinating with the performers for the musical evenings.PUCSC president Gaurav Veer Sohal had earlier said that he would organise a star night during Jhankar within the main campus.The choice of venue has remained a point of discussion. Sources said the Punjabi Sufi artist initially approached for the event had declined to perform at the Law Grounds, which the organisers first proposed as the programme venue. The ground is now being used for Monday’s musical evening featuring Kuldeep Sharma, and is likely to remain the venue for other star night events during the fest.The Law Grounds had also hosted a major star night during Jhankar last year. In 2025, more than 15,000 people gathered there for a performance by Punjabi singer Arjan Dhillon during festivities organised under the PUCSC. The event was eventually called off on the spot following crowd management concerns.During the same PUCSC tenure, another proposed star night featuring singer Gurdas Mann, planned under then vice-president Archit Garg, was cancelled before it could take place.Large cultural gatherings at the university have remained under scrutiny since a violent clash during a campus fest last year that led to the death of a student, Aditya Thakur. The incident underlined serious concerns about crowd management, entry of outsiders and overall safety during large-scale events on campus.Following the incident, the university framed SOPs to regulate festivals, including provisions related to security arrangements, permissions and crowd control, with a specific clause announcing a ban on star nights.Despite the restrictions, such performances continue to remain among the most anticipated segments of PUCSC festivals, often drawing large crowds to the campus. With Jhankar beginning this weekend, preparations for the musical evenings are underway even as the SOP provisions remain under discussion.
