At the 32nd convocation of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU), students queued up to receive their degrees from governor RN Ravi. However, one student, Jean Joseph, chose to bypass the governor and accepted her degree from vice chancellor Chandrasekar, who was standing next to him.
Jean Joseph, the wife of DMK Nagercoil deputy secretary M. Rajan, reportedly made this choice as a form of silent protest of ongoing tensions between governor Ravi and the DMK government.
A video from the event shows governor Ravi smiling and motioning for her to stand beside him, but she walks past him, accepts the degree from the vice chancellor, and appears to say “thank you.” The Governor responds with a polite nod.
BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai criticized the incident, calling it a “deplorable drama” staged by DMK members for attention. He accused the party of politicizing educational platforms and urged chief minister M.K. Stalin rein in such behavior, warning, “If they continue like this, where will Chief Minister Stalin hide his face?”
This incident comes amid an ongoing conflict between the DMK-led state government and governor Ravi. From November 2020 to April 2023, the Tamil Nadu legislature passed 13 bills, of which the governor withheld or returned 10 without explanation. Even after the Assembly passed them again without changes, the governor refused assent, instead sending them to the President for consideration—a move the Supreme Court later deemed unconstitutional.
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