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An alumnus and former faculty member of PU, this was Dr Singh’s first visit to the university after becoming the PM. Vice-Chancellor Prof R C Sobti conferred on him a doctorate of laws (honoris causa) on the occasion.
Emotions ran high among his former colleagues and students who had gathered to welcome him. Singh expressed gratitude to his former teacher Prof R P Bhamba, now a fellow at PU, who was sitting in the audience. Singh was his student before Partition when the university was at Hoshiarpur in Punjab. The PM also recognised Prof M M Puri and Prof H S Shergill, his former colleague and student, respectively, making a special mention of the two in his speech.
Singh also shared his memories of the campus both as a student and a faculty member. He said those were beautiful moments of his life which he would always cherish.
“All I have to say to students today is that they should feel lucky and proud, like I do, to have got a chance to study at Panjab University,” he said. The PM congratulated the V-C and the faculty members for being a part of PU, the fourth oldest university of the country.
Later, Prof Bhamba shared a few incidents when Singh was in Hoshiarpur and used to came to his house on a bicycle.
“I visited Dr Manmohan Singh in Delhi some time ago, and was surprised to see that his wife Gursharan made and served tea for us, not a servant. On another occasion, my uncle had his flight delayed and Dr Singh drove all the way to the airport and arranged for a place to stay for him,” he said, appreciating the PM for “being a humble and a genuine human being”.
The PM left after being honoured by with the doctorate and a replica of Golden Temple as a memento.
He also laid the foundation stone of a multi-purpose auditorium-cum-examination hall that will come up in Sector 25. During the function, he said: “I will look forward to more opportunities to visit PU again and again. I wish everybody related to my university all the very best.”
He promised PU “all possible help” to grow and develop further. The PM was accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur. Other prsent included Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, Union Minsters Kumari Selja and Gulam Nabi Azad, UGC Chairman Prof S K Thorat and the governors of Punjab and Haryana.
Seen and heard
* The prime minister skipped a trip to the Punjab Raj Bhawan during his visit to the city on Tuesday. Even at the functions, UT Administrator and Punjab Governor General SF Rodrigues (retd) got only a few minutes to talk to Dr Singh. While Rodrigues did not get much time to talk to the PM at the airport, where Union Ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Kumari Selja were also present, he managed to steal a few minutes with the PM at PGIMER, after the convocation ceremony there.
* SOPU president Barinder Dhillon gave a memorandum to the PM, demanding central status for the university. Though securitymen tried to stop him as he breached the security cordon, the PM noticed him and asked the security personnel to let him talk to him.
* Sobti too mentioned the demand for central university status in his speech and also raised a demand for a medical college. Though the PM did not speak anything about the issue, he promised monetary help to the university so that no faculty member leaves PU solely for monetary reasons.
* Even the anti-Sobti lobby congratulated the V-C for making the PM’s visit possible. On several occasions, the PM had turned down the university’s request to visit the campus.
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