IIT Madras Best Student Raises Palestine Issue At Convocation (image-screengrab/ twitter/ hatedetectors)

IIT Madras student Dhananjay Balakrishnan who has received the governor’s prize at the institute’s 61st convocation on Friday, spoke against the ‘mass genocide’ in Palestine and also blamed tech giants for facilitating this cruelty.

He said during his acceptance speech, “I feel like I would be doing myself and everything I believe in a great injustice if I do not use the stage I am presented with to say something important”.

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Dhananjay won the prize for best all-around proficiency in curricular and extracurricular activities in a degree in mechanical engineering.

“There is a mass genocide going on in Palestine. People are dying in large numbers and there is no end in sight. Why should we bother by this, you may ask? Because stem as a field in itself has historically been used to advance the ulterior motives of the imperial powers such as Israel,” Dhananjay said.

He asked the engineers to be aware of the nature of the work of the companies they are hired for, some of which aid imperial powers like Israel.

“However, these tech giants control various aspects of our life today, as you know, better than anyone. Many of these prestigious companies are also directly and indirectly implicated in the war against Palestine for providing state of the technology that’s used to kill citizens,” the student added.

He also urged the students to work to lift people out of misery.

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Dhananjay further added that some might think that why should we bother about this, however, STEM as a field has historically been used to advance the ulterior motives of imperial powers, such as Israel.

At the convocation, 2,636 students, including 444 scholars, were awarded degrees. Nobel laureate Brian Kobilka handed over prizes and medals in the convocation.