DW BUREAU / Chandigarh A Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation of party MPs led by its President Sukhbir Singh Badal today urged Vice President and Panjab University vice chancellor M Venkaiah Naidu to ensure the unique character of PU as a symbol of Punjabi pride was not tinkered with in any manner and called for the withdrawal of the report of the Chancellor's high level committee on governance reforms. The delegation, which comprised former union minister Harsimarat Kaur Badal, Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Naresh Gujaral, also called for withdrawal of all the recommendations made by the high level committee including disaffiliation of colleges of Punjab by drastically reducing the territorial jurisdiction of Panjab University. The delegation also informed the Chancellor that the high level committee had been hijacked by anti-Punjab forces which are seeking to change the very character of the University in the name of governance reforms. It said an effort was afoot to wrest all powers from elected representatives of the alumni and render the office of the vice chancellor, which will be vested with all powers now, an autocratic institution. It said the Committee also sought to eliminate Punjabis from the institution by recommending that the Syndicate have only ex-officio and nominated members instead of elected representatives. The SAD President said the draconian recommendations constituted a painful distrust of the people of Punjab through their elected members. "It also amounts to humiliating their voice and pushing them out of the national mainstream. Punjabis are deeply disturbed by this conspiracy to submerge their culture into a nameless set of ideas, values and cultural ethos quite alien to this region and its proud people in the garb of governance reforms. This brazen cultural and administrative takeover of Panjab University follows in the series of injustices wreaked on Punjabis including the snatching of the State capital, river waters and Punjabi speaking areas". (editor@dailyworld.in)