PhD scholar does not shake hands with VC at convocation in protest

New Delhi: A JNU student on Wednesday did not shake hands with Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar at the convocation ceremony in protest against, what he termed as, his "role in negating the idea of the varsity being an inclusive campus".

Anoop Patel, who did a comparative study on India's Reservation Policy and South Africa's Affirmative Action for his doctorate, attended the convocation ceremony but when Kumar acknowledged him and wanted to shake hands, he did not reciprocate. 

"The way the image of JNU has gone down, the VC has a huge role to play in it. The decisions, policies which are enacted by the Vice-Chancellor are against the inclusive, democratic, progressive and secular credentials of our JNU," he later claimed. 

Patel also claimed that when he refused to shake hands with the VC, JNU Chancellor VK Saraswat, who was the chief guest at the convocation, asked him, 

"I hope you will shake hands with me." "I told Saraswat sir, 'I will definitely shake hands with you," he said. JNU had hosted its second convocation on Wednesday, 46 years after the first.