Posturing, protests as LG, CM inaugurate new IP Univ campus

Who inaugurated the East Delhi campus of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) on Thursday afternoon? Delhi lieutenant governor VK Saxena? Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal? Both of the above?

- Alok KN Mishra

The answer to this multiple choice question remained unclear on Thursday, as press releases from both sides staked claim to the honour.

The campus that was inaugurated, however, marked an end to eight years of construction and will serve as a key bridge for higher education in eastern Delhi. Built for ₹388 crore over a 19-acre plot, the campus will accommodate 2,400 students.

But the inauguration event itself was overshadowed by the tug-of-war, yet another chapter in the seemingly unending tussle between the Capital’s two power centres, that played out in public in three parts – on the campus lawns, in the campus’s auditorium a few minutes later, and then on social media, cellphones and press rooms. To be sure, Thursday’s fracas was foreshadowed days earlier. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said Kejriwal would helm the 11am event, a statement that the LG’s office refuted a day later, saying Saxena would.

Eventually, the LG attended as “chief guest” and Kejriwal as the “guest of honour”. Education minister Atishi, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, and local legislator OP Sharma (also from the BJP) were also present at the event.

LS, CM interrupted

On the campus lawns on a hot Thursday afternoon, just as the programme began, Saxena and Kejriwal moved together at the foot of the inauguration plaque as both sought to draw its curtains. Eventually, Saxena stood next to it and held the top of the drawstring, while Kejriwal stood to his left and held the bottom, to reveal a plaque that said, “Inaugurated by Chief Guest Shri Vinai Kumar-Saxena”.

Soon after, inside the auditorium, Saxena and Kejriwal were heckled during their respective 16- and 17-minute speeches.