Silchar: A “yellow silk cloth” and white coat provided by Assam University authorities to students for attending the 20th convocation of the varsity has drawn flak and become a “topic of trolls” on social media.
The Assam varsity authorities had reportedly taken the decision to replace the black gown, which students used to wear during convocations, by providing “traditional attire” to students for convocation this year. Accordingly, the students were given a yellow silk cloth with a white coat.
The students registered for the convocation, which was held on March 4-5, by paying Rs 2,500 this year. Pictures of students wearing yellow clothes started flooding the internet and soon became meme material on social media.
Several people and Facebook pages posted about this on social media and these have garnered attention from a huge number of netizens who posted hilarious comments trolling the varsity authorities.
A user wrote, “Samnor bar ela oile amr bafe ghoro jaga dita nay.. Koiba 2500 taka gaso dhore ni (My father will not allow me to stay at home if this happens next year. He will say – does Rs. 2500 grow on trees?)”. Another user wrote, “Attire nahi satire hai ye 
Dress v mat kaho dupatta hai ye (It’s satire not attire, don’t say it’s a dress, it’s a scarf).”
Another user wrote, “Churer dol… study korar samay fees diya lutse. Aar complete koriya jawar samay convocation er fees er naam eo luutse (Gang of thieves. They looted by taking fees while studying. And now they looted by taking convocation fees after completion of courses).”
Many people linked the attire with a political party, claiming that the varsity authorities chose the dress out of inspiration from a political party. Many also claimed that the varsity “fleeced” the students by charging an exorbitant price for “a piece of cloth” to wear at the convocation programme.
Sharing his reaction with EastMojo, Aritra Dhar, former general secretary of Assam University Students’ Union, said the dress provided to the varsity students for attending the convocation programme was “incongruous” and “unacceptable”. In many universities in India, traditional attire is given to students in convocations, but the “yellow cloth” provided by Assam varsity authorities was unsuitable. This has resulted in anger among a large section of students, Aritra said.
He said the varsity authorities should have provided proper cloth and not a scarf as convocation is a very important event in students’ lives. He hoped that the authorities would take note of the same and provide something better to students in convocations from next year.
A former student of Assam University and a PhD research scholar at Bodoland University, Debasmita Purkayastha said the varsity authorities said they tried something “new” and “innovative” by replacing western gowns (which were provided to students for convocation in the past), but unfortunately they could not make it happen.
“Convocation is one of the most significant and important days of one’s life. Everyone wants the experience to be exciting. It’s like a reward after making tireless efforts for a degree. I don’t think after paying a hefty amount it was value for money to get just a piece of yellow cloth in the name of traditional attire,” Debasmita said.
On the condition of anonymity, a female student, who attended the convocation programme at Assam University on Saturday, said that the dress provided by the varsity was “unsuitable”. All the students who attended the convocation were unhappy with the dress. The university authorities should have thought carefully before deciding the yellow cloth as the convocation dress, she said.
The president of the Assam University Students’ Union, Shubhamoy Chanda told EastMojo that the attire (yellow cloth with a coat) was decided by the varsity authorities at the eleventh hour due to certain issues. The university had taken the decision of giving proper traditional dresses to students, but it could not be done because of unavoidable reasons. The authorities took the decision of providing the yellow attire a few days ago before the event, he said.
He mentioned that a few dresses provided by Assam University to students for convocation had the logo of Lucknow University on them, which were not removed probably due to paucity of time. “Pictures of the same began making the rounds on social media followed by a meme fest. People are trolling the varsity authorities left, right and centre over the matter,” he said.
He also mentioned that the convocation fee was increased to Rs 2,500 this year. The amount covers the convocation dress, certificate, file cover, travel and food expenses of the students attending the convocation programme.
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Assam University’s vice chancellor Rajive Mohan Pant said universities across the country are making changes in their attire for convocations and embracing Indian culture by giving traditional dresses to students. “There is no protest regarding the attire given to students for the 20th convocation of Assam University. The concept of the traditional attire this year was a joint concept of the students and teachers,” Pant said.
Established in 1994, Assam University is a central university and is the only varsity in Barak Valley. It is located in Cachar district’s Dorgakuna, about 20km from Silchar.
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