Late Communist veteran leader Narasimhalu Sankaraiah had come close to getting a degree twice in his life. Once in 1941 during his final year of undergraduate degree and the second time in 2023, when the Tamil Nadu government announced that he shall be awarded an honorary doctorate by the Madurai Kamaraj University, under whose aegis he studied in the 1940s. If it was the British who denied him the opportunity to attend his final exams 80 years ago, in 2023 it is Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi who refused to sign the proposal of the University, purportedly due to political rivalry. Sankaraiah passed away without a degree or a doctorate at the age of 102 on Wednesday, November 15.
What happened in 1941?
One of the most distinguished alumnus of Madurai American College, Sankaraiah was a BA History student in the 1940s. In The Last Heroes: Foot soldiers of Indian Freedom, a book on the less celebrated freedom fighters of the country, Sankaraiah tells the author and journalist P Sainath about joining the undivided Communist Party of India as a 17 year old. He became a member after befriending many people with leftist ideologies. Those were years the party was banned in British India and members had to work underground. Sankaraiah, working with them, soon became the joint secretary of the college students’ union. He was a very active participant of the anti-British movement.
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In late February 1941, there was a meeting held in Madurai, condemning the arrest of another student protestor for participating in anti-British protests. Sankaraiah had taken part in the meeting and issued pamphlets and notices. When the police raided the rooms of students, pamphlets were found in some of the rooms and one of Sankaraiah’s friends was arrested. Soon after that, on February 28, Sankaraiah was also arrested. It was just 15 days before his BA final exams. He was incarcerated in the Madurai jail and then sent to Vellore prison.
Sankaraiah could not finish his degree. He was not just politically active, but was artistically inclined and had a taste for sports - founding a Tamil poetry society on campus and representing his college in football matches.
In 1942, the government had released all students except Sankaraiah, who was also put in solitary confinement. He was finally released on August 14, 1947, a day before Indian Independence. Recalling the episode, Sainath quoted Sankaraiah as saying that ‘the only thought’ in his head was that he was part of the freedom struggle. “We are not job hunters, we are freedom hunters,” he had said.
TN government’s announcement
While the American College, which comes under MKU, was proud of the fact that he was an alumnus of the college and one of the top students, they did not move the University to offer a degree to the leader. He lost his chance to get a degree only because he chose to be a freedom fighter. Finally, on July 15, Sankaraiah’s 102nd birthday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) will confer an honorary doctorate to the veteran leader.
In a statement, Stalin recalled that Sankaraiah was a student of American College in Madurai in the 1940s, and that he was not able to write the final year examination after he was arrested by the British Government due to his participation in the freedom struggle. The CM also reminisced that the veteran leader was first arrested in 1941 when he was in his final year, and was released just 12 hours before August 15, 1947 when the country attained Independence. “There have been requests from various quarters that Sankaraiah be conferred with an honorary doctorate in appreciation of his contributions to the poor and downtrodden and the freedom struggle. That is being fulfilled now,” Stalin had said.
However, in October, just ahead of the MKU convocation, Minister of Higher Education Department Ponmudy alleged that the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, who is also the Chancellor of Tamil Nadu universities, refused to give honorary doctorate to the Communist leader. Minister Ponmudy said that the MKU Syndicate had passed a resolution to award Sankaraiah an honorary doctorate on August 18, 2023, following which the Senate passed the resolution on September 20, 2023. The Syndicate and Senate are decision making bodies of the University. The Minister said that these resolutions were submitted for the assent of Governor Ravi, but he did not approve it despite repeated requests. In October, the Minister also alleged that the Governor did not "have the courage" to give reason for refusing assent. He also speculated that this might be because of the Governor's alleged affiliation with the RSS.
How does MKU offer degrees?
The powers to award honorary doctorates and degrees rest with the Senate of the University, according to the Madurai Kamaraj University Act, 1965, but the Governor has to provide his assent. Section 17(14) of the Act provides the Senate the power to confer an honorary degree. The section states that honorary degrees or other distinctions can be conferred “on the recommendation of not less than two-thirds of the members of the Syndicate”. Further, Sections 30 and 31 that talk about statutes and how they are processed detail the steps for giving such a degree. According to these sections, the Syndicate will submit a proposal to the Senate, who will also approve it and pass it to the Chancellor for assent.
The university's convocation was held on November 2. On November 1, Minister Ponmudy announced that he would boycott the convocation because Governor Ravi refused to give honorary doctorate to Sankaraiah despite repeated requests. On the convocation day, Minister Ponmudy, Pro-chancellor of MKU, two PhD scholars and 15 syndicate and senate members of the university boycotted the convocation event.
(With inputs from Nithya Pandian)