Announcing the boycott decision, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy said the Governor's RSS links were influencing his decisions.
Minister Ponmudy reminded Governor RN Ravi of his powers. (Supplied)
The Tamil Nadu government will boycott the convocation ceremony of the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) in protest against Governor RN Ravi’s refusal to approve the varsity’s decision to confer an honorary doctorate on 102-year-old freedom fighter and veteran Communist leader N Sankaraiah.
The convocation ceremony was scheduled for Thursday, 2 November.
The MKU Syndicate passed the resolution to confer the honorary doctorate on Sankaraiah on 18 August, and the Senate ratified it on 20 September. The Governor, however, refused assent.
“I will not participate in Thursday’s convocation ceremony,” Tamil Nadu High Education Minister and Pro-Chancellor K Ponmudy told reporters.
“We have decided to boycott the event to express our opposition to the Governor not approving the decision of the senate and the syndicate,” he added.
Ponmudy criticised the Governor’s unilateral actions, asking whether his “affiliations with the RSS” were influencing his decision to defy established rules and traditions to honour freedom fighters.
The minister further sought to know the reasons behind the Governor’s disapproval of the MKU’s decision to confer an honorary doctorate to Sankaraiah.
He also asserted that the veteran leader’s commitment to serving the people made him an exceptional choice for such recognition.
Reminding the Governor about his powers, Ponmudy said the MKU Syndicate and Senate were vested with the powers to confer doctorate, according to the University Act.
“The Governor has to merely affix his signature. He cannot make decisions,” said the minister, adding that Ravi had made it a habit to go against established rules and conventions.
“He acts like a nationalist but he doesn’t respect the people who fought for India’s freedom. I would like to remind the Governor that he is only a nominated executive. The government elected by the people is the real executive,” the minister said.
Ponmudy also said that the freedom fighter had worked for social justice and secured the rights of the people.
In July 2023, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who was on a trip to Madurai, announced that the MKU would confer an honorary doctorate on the 102-year-old freedom fighter.
Stalin said that Sankaraiah was first arrested in 1941 when he was a final-year student at the American College in Madurai. He was released just 12 hours before 15 August, 1947, when the country attained Independence.
Sankaraiah could not write his college examination as he was arrested by the British. And the American College, which still exists, is now affiliated to the MKU.
He was a state secretary of the Communist Party of Tamil Nadu and was elected to the state’s Legislative Assembly in 1967, 1977, and 1980.
In 2021, when the freedom fighter turned 100, the Tamil Nadu government honored him with the “Thagaisal Thamizhar” award.
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