Charged lathis at DU's ARSD fest: Why did singer Ajay Hooda cut short his gig?
Haryanvi singer Ajay Hooda, one of the star performers at the recent fest of Delhi University's Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, was asked to cut short his act.
Seen or heard of walls being scaled or barricades being broken at college fest in Delhi University? But, at Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma (ARSD) College, it was the charged with lathis (sticks) that stole the show! So much so that the star act by Haryanvi singer Ajay Hooda had to be cut short, which left many taking to social media to express their disappointment at how it felt like witnessing a prank in the name of concert.
Such was the scenario at Tide, the annual cultural fest of ARSD, on Thursday, when some students armed with lathis clashed and chaos break out. Janhvi Kataria, final-year student of BSc (Prog) Industrial Chemistry and member of the cultural society of the college, says, “Things got so heated up that the entire fest was on the verge of cancellation. Some boys barged into the main stage area with lathis in their hands while the fashion show was on. They interrupting the show and snatched the mic from the host, which ended in that event ending abruptly.”
Later, Hooda arrived on campus at around 6.40pm, by when the situation was brought under control with some intervention from the college authorities and the police personnel deployed on ground. Post 7pm, the singer took to stage only to wind up his performance soon as instances of hooliganism rose, and the college authorities felt it was best that he leaves the campus early. “There was a crowd of over 20,000 and it was getting difficult to manage them,” informs Deepankar, assistant professor in History department and convener of the Help Desk Committee, adding, “We asked Mr Hooda to wrap up his performance before it was supposed to end, to ensure no untoward incident takes place.”
Hooda’s performance barely lasted half an hour, and led to memes and stories on social media as several students tagged the performance as ‘prank’. “I was so disappointed when he didn’t finish his set. All my friends and I felt cheated,” shares Tanushika Chaudhary, first-year student of BA (Hons) English at ARSD, adding, “The moment he left, we too made a move, which is good because I later heard that some students got very angry and began rushing towards the stage and even broke barricades in between.”
Upon contacting the singer’s team, his manager Ravi confirmed that it was due to the authorities’ requests that the singer cut short his stage act. He said: “As per the agreement, he was to perform for about 45 minutes. But when there were still 20 minutes and some eight to 10 more songs left, the college and police authorities instructed us to wind up, which is why he wrapped up the performance and we left the college.”
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