Lovely Professional University (LPU) is under the spotlight due to protests over the rape of a girl on campus. What began as a protest over the incident soon turned violent, with students clashing with police, damaging property and blocking the Jalandhar-Phagwara National Highway.
Protest turns violent at LPU
The protest began late on Saturday, September 26, near the girls’ hostel after information about a sexual assault involving a female student started circulating among students. By around 2 am, students from different hostels had gathered and moved towards the university’s main gate. Videos from inside the campus, including the university mall and other areas, showed agitated students protesting against the sexual assault.
The situation escalated on Sunday, September 27, when protesters damaged property, pelted stones at police and set vehicles on fire. Four to five police vehicles were damaged, while at least two vehicles were set on fire, according to police. Several police personnel were injured in the clashes.
Students later blocked NH-44 outside the university from around 4 am, leading to major traffic disruption. Police said the situation became tense when officers tried to clear the highway blockade, and some protesters threw water bottles at them. Police then used a lathi charge, after which the students moved back towards the campus.
In the aftermath, LPU suspended classes for 10 days from September 28 and postponed the midterm examinations until further notice.
But as LPU finds itself in the headlines, the institution’s history offers another story, one that begins not in education, but with a small sweet shop in Jalandhar.
LPU came into existence in 2005
The Lovely Professional University came into existence in 2005, when the Lovely Professional University Act, 2005, was passed by the Punjab State Legislature. The Act received the Governor’s assent on December 23, 2005. The university started its first academic session in 2006, after receiving recognition from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
But even before the university was established, the name “Lovely” had already become a familiar name in Punjab. The name came from the business started by the Mittal family decades earlier.
How the ‘Lovely’ name began
The story of Lovely goes back to 1961, when Baldev Raj Mittal opened a small sweet shop in Jalandhar Cantt. He named it “Lovely Sweets.” Baldev, who was originally from Rajasthan, had earlier helped his father run a canteen for soldiers in Sialkot. After Partition, the battalion moved to Ferozepur.
With a Rs 500 loan from the battalion’s commanding officer, Baldev started the sweet shop in Sadar Bazaar, Jalandhar Cantt. The shop became known for its sweets, especially because of its focus on purity and taste. The family later expanded the business and opened another shop and a manufacturing centre in Jalandhar city in 1986.
Baldev’s sons Ramesh Mittal and Naresh Mittal joined the family business and continued the sweets trade. The family followed a high-volume, low-margin business model, selling products such as laddoos and pedas.
From sweets to automobiles and education
The youngest son, Ashok Kumar Mittal, later took the family business into automobiles. In 1991, he secured a Bajaj dealership through Lovely Autos, followed by a Maruti dealership around 1996.
By the late 1990s, the family had entered the private education sector. They started an engineering college in 2000, after earlier efforts to get AICTE approval for a management college faced a delay of two years. The family’s background in the sweets business was also discussed during that period.
The Lovely name continued with each new business. When the Punjab legislature passed the university law in 2005, the family carried the same name into higher education, leading to the establishment of Lovely Professional University.
The university was set up after an agreement between the Punjab government and the Lovely International Trust on July 25, 2005. The law received support from both the then-ruling Congress and the opposition Akalis.
Ashok Kumar Mittal is the university’s Chancellor and a Rajya Sabha MP, while Dr Rashmi Mittal, his wife, serves as Pro-Chancellor and is involved in the university’s administrative and academic work. Ramesh and Naresh Mittal continue to be associated with the family’s other businesses, including sweets, automobiles and real estate.
From a small sweet shop called Lovely Sweets in 1961 to a private university carrying the same name in 2005, the word “Lovely” has remained at the centre of the Mittal family’s business journey.
