Chennai: Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan boycotted the 167th convocation of the University of Madras on Thursday, an event attended by Governor RN Ravi.

Chezhiaan in a statement said the Governor continues to act in a manner that undermines the dignity of the State Legislative Assembly and is consistently working against the interests of the Tamil language, the Tamil people, and Tamil Nadu.

A Governor who spreads falsehoods and demeans the knowledge and intellect of Tamil Nadu’s students has no moral authority to award degrees, said in the statement.

Defence Scientist and former CEO of BrahMos, A Sivathanu Pillai in his address at the convocation, called upon graduates to drive India’s technological strength and sustainable growth as the nation moves towards Viksit Bharat 2047.

Higher education secretary P Shankar, who heads the convenor committee in absence of the vice chancellor, presented the annual report of the varsity. A total of 1,93,686 candidates were awarded degrees of this 1323 received the awards in person. 951 candidates were awarded PhD degrees, while one candidate received D.Sc and two received D.Litt degrees.