Ramdev skips talk at JNU, students call it their victory

Yoga guru Ramdev has expressed inability in visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University where he was invited to give a keynote address amid protests from a group of students.

Yoga guru Ramdev has expressed inability in visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University where he was invited to give a keynote address amid protests from a group of students.

Yoga guru Ramdev expressed inability in visiting Jawaharlal Nehru University where he was invited to give a keynote address amid protests from a group of students. (HT File Photo)

While the students claimed the university has cancelled the invitation given to Ramdev to deliver an address on Wednesday, the organisers of the convention — 22nd International Congress of Vedanta — maintained that Ramdev had expressed inability to come and assured that he will visit JNU sometime later.

According to GN Jha, member of the organising committee, Ramdev’s office had conveyed that he will not be able to come to deliver the keynote address at the three-day convention, being organized by the University’s Special Center for Sanskrit Studies from December 28-30.

“I received a message from his office that Baba Ramdev will not be able to come for the keynote address due to lack of time and he will come to the university some other time to address students. There is no question of university cancelling the address by Ramdev. We stand by our invitation and hope he comes some other time,” Jha told HT.

Meanwhile, Jawaharlal Nehru Students Union (JNUSU) vice president Shehla Rashid claimed that the administration had cancelled the talk. “I have received an email from the JNU administration, saying that Ramdev’s talk has been cancelled and that he won’t be visiting. It is a victory of the progressive tradition of JNU that Ramdev’s visit stands cancelled,” she said.