Nitish Calls for Countrywide Debate on Convocation Gown

A day after Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh took off convocation gown calling it ‘barbaric colonial relics’, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called for a debate on the matter, reported PTI.

“I suggest initiating a countrywide debate on wearing graduation gowns at convocations. I have attended several convocations and wore such gowns,” Kumar was quoted as saying while talking to reporters in Patna.

Yesterday in a convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal, Ramesh had discarded his square hat and red-yellow gown dubbing such practice as ‘barbaric’.

In reaction to Ramesh’s action, Kumar said “It is an attempt to break tradition, and a debate should be held on the issue.”