The first and only convocation at JNU was held in 1972, when noted actor and theatre personality Balraj Sahni had given the convocation address, which Kamal Mitra Chenoy, a professor at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, describes at a “radical speech” . This was said to be a different speech than what had been approved by the then Vice-Chancellor G Parthasarathi. “The media picked it up, because it was a big deal for a student to say such things, that too at their convocation,” Chenoy said. The president of the JNU student’s union Geeta Kumari said they did not have a problem with holding a convocation “but it depends on who they call as the guests”. The bigger question is, as one student put it: “Will history repeat itself on the campus this year?”

Source: Hindustan Times January 29, 2018 01:37 UTC