Joshi backs Ramesh on doing away with ceremonial robe

BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday backed Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on doing away with ceremonial gowns at convocation events saying it was a western practice inspired by Christianity and was not suitable for Indian culture or climate.

BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday backed Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on doing away with ceremonial gowns at convocation events saying it was a western practice inspired by Christianity and was not suitable for Indian culture or climate.

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"There is no need to wear the robe and I had removed it once at a convocation ceremony a long time back," former Union HRD Minister recalled in a lecture in Indore.

"The Minister has done nothing wrong at all," Joshi said when asked by reporters whether Ramesh was right when he removed the gown at a function in Bhopal on Friday.

Linking the robe with Christianity, he said that it was the dress of the Pope and added that the tradition of wearing it started in the West when religious institutions were the centres of learning.

The former union minister said that donning the heavy gowns neither gels with the Indian culture nor with the country's climate.

Responding to another query, he said that the country does not need foreign universities.