Sonia Gandhi cancels visit to AMU due to bad weather

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was to address the 60th convocation of Aligarh Muslim University on Saturday, cancelled her visit due to bad weather.

"The visit has been cancelled due to bad weather," Congress sources said here.

In Aligarh, AMU Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah said Gandhi's plane could not take off due to inclement weather.

Had Gandhi made it to Aligarh, she would have been the second woman to make a convocation address at the university. Nawab Sultan Jahan Begum of Bhopal was the first woman to deliver the convocation address on January 26, 1925.

Heavy showers in the night and early morning had led to a last minute change in the venue of the convocation in Aligarh.

The venue of the function has been shifted from the pandal at the Athletics Grounds to the Kennedy Auditorium, according to the university's spokesman.

AMU Pro-Vice Chancellor Brigadier Syed Ahmad Ali said the convocation will be held today.

Besides delivering the convocation address, Gandhi was also to be conferred with the life membership of the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union.

The first person to be honoured by the AMUSU with its life membership was Mahatma Gandhi. He was conferred the membership in 1920 at the beginning of the Khilafat Movement.

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