IIT Kharagpur has asked students to participate "with full vigour" in an essay competition to commemorate the 74th birthday of Narendra Modi on September 17 and write on "How Prime Minister Narendra Modi Strengthened India's Global Relations".

The institute has asked its students to participate in the "All-India" event by submitting essays of 750-800 words in "English or any of the 13 recognised Indian languages".

"The director wishes our students to participate with full vigour so that we are able to bag the first prize in the competition," says the mail sent on behalf of the Technology Students' Gymkhana, the students' body of the institute.

The mail says the Centre for Narendra Modi Studies has asked the institute to inform the students and scholars about the essay contest.

The essays have to be sent by August 30.

A student said: "We don’t understand why we have been asked to write on how Narendra Modi has strengthened India's global relations. A centre named after Modi can do whatever it deems fit. But why will the students be dragged into their scheme of things?"

The Centre for Narendra Modi Studies is an independent trust that runs an institution "incorporating global objectives to promote unbiased research and in-depth studies".

Founded on September 17, 2020, the centre in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, believes in facilitating informed policy debates at various levels, its website says.

A research scholar at the IIT said: "We have heard that other IITs have sent a similar circular to their students asking them to participate in the competition."

An IIT official said: "Since the (Union) ministry of education has forwarded a circular on the essay competition, we have requested the students to take part in it."

In December, the UGC had asked all universities and colleges to set up selfie points with images of Modi in the background. The circular was later withdrawn.