A book fair scheduled at a central university in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district was cancelled after the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad allegedly pressured the administration to revoke permission for the event, The Indian Express reported.

The ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organisation of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Kitaab Kautik event organised by a team called Creative Uttarakhand was to be held at the Government Girls’ Inter College in January. But the event was opposed by the Hindutva group, said Hem Pant, one of the organisers.

Pant told The Indian Express that the event had been postponed to February 15-16 and sought permission from the dean of the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in Srinagar town.

The dean had approved the book fair and a panel discussion at their Senate Hall, said Pant.

“But later, we were informed that we could not conduct the book fair on the premises,” Pant claimed. “We approached the Ramleela committee to hold the book fair at the maidan in the town, but despite written permission, RSS has organised a programme the same day at the same venue.”

Subsequently, the organisers cancelled the event.

“The groups told us they would burn the books if we held the event,” Pant alleged. “They alleged that we had communist literature. It is a book fair with over 70,000 books on different subjects. We also planned to bring Narendra Singh Negi, a folk artist who speaks about social issues. This has also not gone down well with the RSS.”

The institute had to reconsider the permission given for the book fair after a meeting with the ABVP-led students’ union, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified dean of the university as saying.

“They expressed discontent at the book fair and the programme on the premises,” the dean was quoted as saying. “They were concerned that the books would hurt the religious sentiments of people, so we had to reconsider it.”

Jaswant Singh Rana, the president of the students’ union, said that exams were taking place at the university. “We also had an event planned, but we didn’t want the exams to be disrupted,” the newspaper quoted Rana as having claimed.

He added: “We held a discussion with the management, which is why the university revoked the permission for the book fair.”