New Delhi: Visiting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a former university lecturer himself, was Monday conferred the doctor of letters (D.Litt.) degree by the Delhi University for "improving the quality of human life and promoting better human values".
Brown said it was a "real privilege to receive a degree from a university located in the great city of Delhi, which has a global reach".
He urged nearly 250 students, clad in ceremonial black satin robes and caps in the convocation hall, to be proud of their university.
Cutting a striking figure in a red and gold graduation robe and a purple and yellow satin head-dress with tassels, Brown said: "This is the best university in India and it educates nearly a quarter million students from 60 nations around the world. It is the biggest in Asia. I am honoured to be a honorary graduate of the Delhi University."
The convocation hall was a riot of colours with the heads of departments decked in their red masters' robes and invited British dignitaries in their purple and gold robes.
The ceremonial march by Brown escorted by the chancellor, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Tejendra Khanna, vice-chancellor Deepak Paintal and senior university dons set the mood of the ceremony.
Brown said the honour was special because he had been a university lecturer himself and a university stands for "objectivity, rationality and single-minded pursuit of truth".
He narrated an anecdote to drive home the point.
"Olof Palme, the former Swedish prime minister, who was slain in 1986, once went to meet then American president Ronald Reagan. The American president asked his aides: Is the man a communist? The aides said he was a Nantai (sacred mountain) communist. Reagan did not know what to do with a social democrat (Palme represented the Social Democratic Party).
"Reagan asked Palme what is it that you want to which the former Swedish prime minister replied: everyone should have the chance to realise his potential to the full," Brown said, adding that realisation of potential was the essence of university education.
The British prime minister said he wanted a partnership of equals between India and Britain, two of the oldest, biggest and modern democracies. "We are interdependent. What happens to the poorest citizens in the poorest countries affect the richest countries."
Brown said and recited a poem - "It's the hands of others" - to say that "all that we do in life is actually done for us by others". He called upon the two countries and their people, including the students, to work together on shared needs and shared responsibilities.
Urging for dialogue between the nations and a search for consensus on all the contentious issues, he said, "We should match our technologies as an instrument of common good and we can together build all of the world."
Earlier, introducing the visiting prime minister to the audience, Paintal said, "Brown was one of the youngest students to go to Edinburgh University since the war at the age of 15."
Brown was active in student politics and also edited a student newspaper. In 1972, he became the youngest rector of Edinburgh University.
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