After being postponed for over a month, the 40th convocation ceremony of National Institute of Design took place in the evening on Saturday, 7 March. The ceremony was allegedly pushed for a month over the choice of chief guest.
Social activist and classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai was supposed to be the chief guest of the ceremony when it was scheduled for 7 February. Sarabhai alleged that event was unceremoniously cancelled and she was not given any reason for the same.
It is noteworthy that Mallika Sarabhai has been a vocal critic of the Modi government and has actively participated in the anti-CAA protests.
Students Show Solidarity With Anti-CAA Protesters
According to a report by Times Of India, more than 50 students of the institute publicly sported black armbands in support of anti-CAA protesters.
“An unusually high number of students, 37, did not attend the event and received degrees in absentia. Most importantly, it was for the first time that the institute failed to get a chief guest for its convocation,” the report stated.
The Speech I Was Not Allowed To Give: Mallika Sarabhai
While the college authorities remained tight-lipped about the change of chief guest and delay of the event, Mallika Sarabhai, in a strong-worded post on Facebook suggested that it was because “her views on the nation and most things are contrary to the ideologies that run India today”.
In the post titled, ‘The speech I was not allowed to give’, she also detailed the speech she had planned for the ceremony.
The speech points out India’s underlying uniqueness, culture, languages, diversity, crafts, foods, habitats, arts, beliefs and their manifestations. Briefly mentioning the history of India, Sarabhai then moved to speak about those in power.
“We are in need, as a nation and as a people of refinding our true selves. Not a sense of self sold to us by brand ambassadors and peddlers of fear, but the self that will once again make India a nation to lead to a clearer light, of reason, compassion and humaneness, of inclusivity, of acceptance of difference. Together we must counter the darkness that envelopes our nation and our soul today, the hatred that is being passed to us as nationalism (sic.),” she wrote.
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