London, Feb. 4: When Mani Shankar Aiyar stood for the post of secretary of the Cambridge Union in the early 1960s, he persuaded his friend, Rajiv Gandhi (who was keener on developing his friendship with an Italian language student, Sonia Maino), to take time off to vote for him.

“It was Rajiv’s first political act,” Aiyar boasted later.

It was all so gentlemanly. Rajiv was not particularly interested in politics, but many other students were, seeing the Cambridge Union as a preparation to be Prime Minister or President of whatever country they hailed from.

Now, a day after the disclosure there has been a fall out between former friends at the Oxford Union comes the news, which will be shocking to those brought up in the old ways, that there is also trouble at the Cambridge Union. Following an argument last Tuesday in the chamber which became heated and then physical, the union’s president, Will Wearden, secretary James Robinson and treasurer-elect Dominic Benson have all stepped down. This is not the standard of behaviour expected of students in a society which dates back to 1815 and where it has been traditional for pupils to wear black tie for formal debates.

During the early part of the 20th century the union’s reputation grew, with such eminent politicians as Eden, Lloyd George, Baldwin, Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt and Ramsey MacDonald addressing students in the debating chamber. Shortly after India had gained independence in 1947, Nehru came to Cambridge to address the union. It should have been familiar to him as he had himself been at Trinity.

In recent years the union, which has been situated by the Round Church since 1866, has been addressed by a host of distinguished public figures including diplomat Hans Blix, filmmaker Michael Moore, the Dalai Lama, Ronald Reagan and Bishop Desmond Tutu. The union library is named after John Maynard Keynes, the economist who was President in 1905.

Among former Indian presidents, lawyer Rajeev Dhavan (Emmanuel; 1970 Easter term) and tv presenter Karan Thapar (Pembroke, 1977 Lent term), always behaved impeccably, though they did learn how to use words to mug their opponents.

The union, which prides itself that it is “steeped in legend”, has elected new officials to replace officers who have resigned and will carry on but its prestige has been dented.

One newspaper has commented, sadly, that even the Cambridge Union “appears to have fallen victim to the 21st century style of settling differences — with violence. Three officials have had to step down after an unseemly tussle at a meeting.” According to reports, the secretary, Robinson, 21, reading mathematics at Christ’s College, stepped down from chairing a debate and suddenly launched himself at former president, Ali Al-Ansari, 22, reading land economy at Homerton College. Al-Ansari claims he was pushed on to a bench and punched in the chest before a group of onlookers could pull heavyweight Robinson off. There were initially fears that police would be called. Al-Ansari, who went to the Latymer grammer school in north London, said: “I was making a speech while James was chairing the meeting, and he accused me of lying to the members. He told me to ‘Shut up’ and retract my statements. When I refused he asked me to leave, and I again refused, in the name of the freedom of speech. He was shouting over me the whole time, and not in a calm manner.”