Manomaniam Sundaranar univ convocation hit by student protests, Minister and MLAs boycott ceremony

CHENNAI: The 33rd convocation ceremony of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli was hit by controversy on Tuesday (July 28) after it was announced that only 113 gold medallists would receive their degrees directly from Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, instead of the 871 candidates who were initially expected to be conferred degrees in person.

According to a Daily Thanthi report, Higher Education Minister P Viswanathan, MLA Murugan and MLA Rajendra boycotted the event over the order in which Tamil Thai Vazhthu was scheduled to be rendered.

Students protest degree distribution

The university had earlier announced that Governor Arlekar, the chief guest, would personally confer degrees on 871 candidates during the convocation, while a total of 37,877 students would receive degrees.

However, it was later announced that only 113 gold medallists would receive degrees directly from the Governor.

Minister, MLAs boycott the ceremony

The convocation, which began around 45 minutes late, also witnessed a fresh controversy over the sequence of songs at the function.

According to the schedule, Vande Mataram was played first, while Tamil Thai Vazhthu was rendered third.

Condemning the university administration's decision to place Tamil Thai Vazhthu third, Higher Education Minister Viswanathan boycotted the ceremony.

Along with him, Tirunelveli TVK MLA Murugan and Kadayanallur MLA Rajendran also announced that they would boycott the convocation in protest against the sequence.