Anand too had turned down UoH’s offer

Rahul Dravid’s refusal of an Honorary Doctorate from Bangalore University is reminiscent of a similar instance related to chess icon Viswanathan Anand, who refused to accept the Doctoral Degree announced by University of Hyderabad in 2010.

Anand flew down to Hyderabad at the end of August to attend an international conference and was supposed to receive the award at that time. However, delay in clearing of the related file by the Human Resources Development Ministry owing to his dual citizenship, led Anand to change his mind.

Anand had accepted the honorary doctorate, but changed his mind as he did not wish to trigger a controversy, officials had said at that time.

According to reports, the HRD Ministry had questioned Anand’s nationality and wanted a clearance from the Home Ministry as well as the Ministry of External Affairs, which delayed the process.

Born in Tamil Nadu, Anand made Spain his second home to boost his chess career, but continues to hold an Indian passport.

Meanwhile, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) did not experience any such troubles while conferring Honoris Causa to celebrities, especially stars from the movie industry. Dilip Kumar, Amir Khan, lyricist Gulzar and more recently Shah Rukh Khan were bestowed these honours.