Students told how to bow, PM’s IIT Delhi event raises eyebrows

Hyderabad: Marking his first in-person interaction with Gen Z after the Cockroach Janta Party and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, August 8, presented medals and awards to graduating students at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

However, the event has drawn criticism over reports of stringent security measures and restrictions on students. According to The Telegraph, students were reportedly given specific instructions on how to bow while receiving their medals and were asked to stand during Vedic chants.

Their bags were repeatedly checked by security staff in the days leading up to the event, water bottles were banned from the hall where the graduation ceremony was to take place, and circulars were issued detailing curbs on the use of campus facilities and movement of vehicles on Saturday.

Police personnel, metal detectors, and barricades were also deployed in and around the campus.

While nearly 3,000 students received their degrees, PM Modi was there to felicitate only nine meritorious students. The degree distribution programme, usually scheduled for the first half of the event, was shifted to the second half as the felicitation programme took its place, the report mentioned.

Owaisi condemns undermining of constitutional values

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi strongly condemned the incident and questioned the constitutional values that students and educational institutions are expected to uphold.

He said Article 51A(H), which speaks of developing a scientific temper, was severely violated, and so was Article 28, which says that no religious instruction shall be provided in educational institutions wholly maintained out of state funds.

He urged students to stand up against such incidents in the interest of the nation.