Hundreds of Delhi University teachers on Friday skipped the live-streaming of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address during centenary celebrations and held an online protest to highlight the removal of ad hoc faculty members, the lack of funds to implement the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme and government pressure on the university to take loans for infrastructure.

The teachers protested on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtags “MODIVISITSDU” and “ALL_IS_NOT_WELL”.

Modi spoke for 30 minutes at the valedictory ceremony at the multipurpose hall of DU’s sports complex. The university had instructed departments and colleges to live-stream the event for students and faculty.

Accordingly, the departments and colleges either informally or through notices requested students and faculty to be present to watch the screening, multiple teachers said.

The university had earlier called all its employees to work on Thursday, a holiday for Id ul Zoha, to oversee the arrangements for the programme.

On Friday, teachers’ groups such as the Democratic Teachers’ Front, Delhi Teachers’ Initiative and the Congress-supported INTEC(I) uploaded on social media their photos with posters asking: “Why are grants being replaced by HEFA (Higher Education Funding Agency) loans?” and “Why are long-serving teachers in DU being displaced?”

In a joint statement, they also condemned the use of administrative diktats to ensure a captive audience for the Prime Minister.

The Modi government set up the HEFA in 2018 to give loans to educational institutions to create infrastructure. These loans are to be repaid with interest. Under the previous UPA government, educational institutions used to receive grants for all requirements.

DU has in the past six months removed several hundred ad hoc teachers.

“The university tried to silence the faculty members and students while asking them to attend the screening. The university has suffered a great deal of damage in the recent years due to the lack of funds and interference by the government,” said N. Sachin, a faculty member.

For the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme, which increases the undergraduate course by a year, no grants have been given by the University Grants Commission.

The protesting teachers also raised the issue of the violence in Manipur and the women wrestlers’ complaint of sexual harassment.