Expecting big names, students shelled out Rs 1,000 as the participation fee to be able to hear education activist Malala Yousafzai, who defied the Taliban, Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe share their ideas.

In reality, what they heard, much to their dismay, was Radcliffe’s apology letter being read out, Yousafzai’s one-minute recorded video clip and complete silence from Suu Kyi.

Earlier, during a promotional drive of the event, Rahul Karad, founder and convenor of Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad, said Yousafzai will speak on issues such as women’s education, the importance of politics among the youth and share her views on politics. There were also reports of her entire schdeule being controlled by UN authorities due to security reasons.

A couple of days before the event, Karad backed out on his earlier promise and said Yousafzai will address the students’ gathering through video-conferencing.

“We had already informed that Malala will not be coming personally. However, we did play her recorded clip. The clip was screened in the second session since it was relevant to the topic of discussion — ‘Sita Draupadi se Nirbhaya Tak’ — preventing crime against women,” D P Apte, director of the MIT School of Business and one of the organisers of the conclave.

Explaining Yousafzai’s absence, Karad said they have been chasing the Pakistani schoolgirl for the past six months and out of the 1,000 odd invitations, ISP’s was shortlisted. “She did not come as she did not want to miss school,” he said.

Turning down the invitation due to his busy shooting schedule of Frankenstein, Radcliffe, in the message, applauded the initiative and said he was deeply honoured for being asked to attend ISP. Suu Kyi was also a no-show, although she was listed on the schedule for a video address.

An irate student, who didn’t want to be identified, said, “I paid Rs 1,000 to attend the conclave as I wanted to listen to Malala, who is a true youth icon. I feel cheated.”

Mirror also overheard a group of dissapointed students saying the over-hyped event was a poor show, after all.

“We were waiting for Malala to speak but there was no trace of her, and we were not even informed about the same. Even in the second session, it was just a one-minute video clip. They should not have hyped up the event to attract attention,” said a student, who traveled from Mumbai especially to hear Malala’s address.

In her video message, Yousafzai said, “Youth should join politics since it is one of the ways to help the country. Politics should be not limited to any gender, and both men and women should pitch in for the same.”

However, students of MIT claimed that they were aware that Yousafzai will not be coming. “Last year too, Sunita Williams addressed the gathering only via video-conferencing,” said an MIT student who attended the conclave.

Environmentalist Sunita Narain, Director of Centre for Science and Environment, also addressed the students’ gathering at ISP.

Speaking about development and climate change, she said, “In Geneva Conventions, we talked about how climate will change if no measures were taken. Now that the climate is actually changing, monsoon determines our economy,” said Narain.

Talking about the deteriorating quality of Pune’s air, she said, “You don’t have the right to breathe. You do not have the right to cycle or walk — roads are not safe for pedestrians and cyclists. This is surely not development. I would like to tell the mayor of Pune to build sidewalks.”