The authorities on Saturday said that since the university is currently running in a headless state, following the removal of the erstwhile acting vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta by Governor C.V. Ananda Bose last month, they are not in a position to grant permission to celebrate Ram Navami within the campus.

The Governor, also the chancellor of all state universities, including JU, removed Gupta from the chair, while exercising his powers. Besides denying permission to celebrate Ram Navami within the campus, the university authorities also passed a resolution on the matter.

However, on Saturday only, the ABVP activists said that despite the denial of permission they were determined to celebrate Ram Navami within the campus. Accordingly, an idol of Lord Ram was brought to the campus in the night.

According to the Kolkata district secretary of ABVP, Debanjan Pal, if Iftar can be celebrated within the JU campus, there should not be any problem in celebrating Ram Navami there.

“The denial of permission by the university authorities was a one-sided decision. However, we were determined to go ahead with our scheduled programme despite the denial of permission, which we are doing. JU is not outside West Bengal. Barring some students affiliated with the ultra-Left forces, most students are participating in the celebration spontaneously,” said Pal.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour “peace room” was opened at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata on Sunday to get ground-level information on the situations prevailing over the Ram Navami processions in different pockets of the state. The common people have also been informed about a special helpline number and an email attached to the said “peace room” through which any information of tension over the processions can be reported immediately.

A separate team has been created whose members will be in the peace room around the clock and monitor the situation on a real-time basis.