A university had to reaffirm its commitment to fostering inclusivity on campus after a poster that spews communal hatred appeared on the university’s official notice board and was lapped up by social media in no time.

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, the state’s oldest agriculture university in Nadia’s Mohanpur, said in a notice on Thursday: “The university reiterates its commitment to fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive atmosphere for all. Any deviation from the expected conduct will be viewed seriously and dealt with in accordance with the rules.”

The notice, signed by the university’s dean of students’ welfare, said: “Every student is expected to uphold the values of mutual respect, harmony and cooperation and contribute positively to the hostel community... Let us collectively work towards ensuring that our hostel remains a space of peace, dignity, and mutual understanding.”

Pictures of the hateful poster were all over social media, and many voiced support.

Education minister Bratya Basu told Metro on Friday evening: “I am against such hate-mongering. The right-wing ecosystem, which is spewing hatred and trying to pollute the minds further, can they ever think of matching what Havaldar Jhantu Ali Shaikh or Syed Adil Hussain Shah did? No, they cannot. All they can do is derive some political mileage, using the tragedy as a heinous tool. I will urge campuses in Bengal to remain vigilant so such hate campaigns cannot rear their heads.”

Havaldar Jhantu Ali Shaikh, an Indian Army para commando serving with the 6 Para Special Forces, was martyred during an anti-terror operation in Udhampur district of Kashmir on Thursday, becoming the fourth victim of militancy from Bengal in 48 hours.

Syed Adil Shah, a Kashmiri ponywallah, was one of the 26 killed in Tuesday’s attack in Pahalgam. He was shot dead when he tried to snatch the rifle from a militant.

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, a residential facility, comes under the purview of the state agriculture department.

“Although this university does not come under the higher education department, I will still ask the campuses to be vigilant against any attempt to fan hatred,” Basu said.

Anupam Pariari, dean of students’ welfare, said the offending poster was put up on the notice board in the faculty of agriculture building.

There are three faculties — agriculture, horticulture and agricultural engineering — on Nadia’s Mohanpur campus, about 60km from Calcutta.

“The offending poster was pasted on the noticeboard with some adhesive. The miscreants referred to the Pahalgam incident to justify why they were spewing hatred. We immediately had it removed. We have students from different communities, and we cannot allow such hate campaigns,” Pariari said.

Vice-chancellor Ashok Kumar Patra ordered a probe to identify the offenders.

The agriculture building does not have CCTV cameras. “We could not bring the whole campus under CCTV surveillance because of fund constraints,” Pariari told Metro.

Students pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes stay in 12 hostels on the campus. A teacher said students there have celebrated Eid and Sarawati Puja with equal fervour in the past.

“The poster was shocking,” said research scholar Vivekananda Maity. “Students, cutting across communities, marched on Friday evening to convey that such hatred had no place on our campus.”