Vajpayee: DLitt discord

Ahmedabad, Jan. 2: Atal Bihari Vajpayee has turned down an honorary DLitt from Vadodara’s MS University, which has a BJP-dominated senate, prompting it to look for cover.

The varsity’s syndicate had announced the honour without seeking the prior approval of the Prime Minister, who is averse to accepting such degrees. Vajpayee said the principles he followed did not allow him to accept the honour.

In an apparent bid to save face, vice-chancellor K.C. Upadhayay claimed the Prime Minister has not rejected the honour, he has only expressed his “inability to accept the honour at the moment”. Vajpayee, he said, has written to him, thanking the varsity for the decision.

But not everybody is buying Upadhayay’s contention. While a section of the varsity feels the refusal is an insult to the university, some others consider it a snub.

The proposed DLitt had run into controversy earlier after some senate members wrote to the Prime Minister about procedural lapses in selecting a recipient for the honorary degree.

Some senate members had proposed Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for the honour. One of the members said “good sense” prevailed and their names were not considered.

The university registrar had last month written to all senate members to list the contenders within 15 days. The senate finalised Vajpayee, singer Lata Mangeshkar, scientist R.A. Mashelkar, social worker Nanaji Deshmukh and litterateur Rajendra Shah.

But Deshmukh and Mashelkar ran into objections from senate members I.I. Pandya, Narendra Parmar and Naredra Rawat.

Deshmukh, they noted, had an RSS background. Mashelkar was unacceptable to them mainly because he was the chairman of the three-member search committee that shortlisted Upadhayay as vice-chancellor.

Senate member Cassim Unia said nobody objected to the Prime Minister’s name, but Mashelkar’s was certainly controversial. His fellow member, Narendra Rawat, said as much: “To honour Mashelkar appeared (to be) a deal. Had he not been the chairman of the search committee, we would not have opposed his name.”

Claiming he was not the one who wanted to honour the scientist, Upadhayay dubbed the nomination controversy “unfortunate”. He added he knew some would oppose Mashelkar though others had proposed his name.

The vice-chancellor is still hopeful that Vajpayee will accept the honour at his convenience, especially after Lata and Mashelkar expressed their inability to receive the degree on January 17, the day the convocation was postponed to from January 12.

An apparently desperate Upadhayay said he was willing to hold another convocation to confer the degree.

“I am going to request the Prime Minister to accept the degree that the university has decided to confer on him. We will hold a special convocation when it is convenient to him.”