JNU VC Calls Varsity ‘Beggar’, Draupadi the ‘First Feminist’ at Indian Knowledge Tradition Conference
Ankit Raj | 13 August 2026 | The Wire
New Delhi: “I would not like anybody who says that feminism began with Simone de Beauvoir … Draupadi is the first feminist.” This statement was made by Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, the vice-chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, during her address as the keynote speaker at a three-day international conference that began on August 10 at Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
In addition to identifying Draupadi as the “first feminist,” she described JNU as a “beggar” and accused JNU historians of turning the order of facts and interpretations ‘upside down’. The conference was organised by BHU’s Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Chair, focusing on the theme “Indian Knowledge Tradition and the Thought of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya: Global Perspective and Contemporary Relevance”.
Hindu saint Mithileshnandini Sharan was invited as the chief guest on the inaugural day of this ‘international conference’ on Indian knowledge traditions.