‘Madam, to you, I am Jagdeep not VP’: What India’s Vice President Dhankhar told his 83-year-old teacher

In India, the teacher-student equationhas often been described with the notions of divinity in Sanskrit hymns and Vedic verses. Annually, Indian students celebrate their teachers' contribution to their lives on September 5, observed as TeachersDay in the world's most populous nation and fifth-largest economy.

An Indian Express report this weekend gave a vivid depiction of the teacher-student relationship between 83-year-old Ratna Nair and India's Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar (72).

Dhankhar, who became Vice President last year in August, and now holds the second highest constitutional office in India, is scheduled tovisit Kerala state's Champad village in South India on May 22, over 2400 km south of New Delhi.

In Champad, India's Vice President will meet 83-year-old Ratna Nair, his teacher from Sainik School in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan state in western India. They areset to meet for the first time in the last 55 years.

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"He had invited me to attend his swearing-in ceremony [on August 11, 2022]. Only two of his school teachers are alive now. I could not fly to Delhi because of health issues," Nair was quoted as saying by The Indian Express while referring to the invitation to Dhankhar's vice-presidentialswearing-in ceremony in New Delhi.

"That evening, I called to inform him why I couldn't attend and gave him my heartfelt congratulations. Jagdeep told me it doesn't matter, and that he would come to meet me during his next Kerala visit. Then, I said I am telling his excellency, the Vice President of India, my congratulations; it is not with any ill feeling that I called him Jagdeep. He told me, 'Madam, to you, I am Jagdeep, not the V-P of India. You are my teacher. It is your right to call (me by my name)'. I told him I have to differentiate between my duty and my right. As a citizen of the country, duty comes first," Nair said further.

'He was certain it was Ratna Nair': How Dhankhar reconnected with his teacher

The duo reportedly reconnected after Dhankhar was sworn in as governor of West Bengal state in 2019.

Nair called the governor's office from her Kerala home. Ten minutes later, she received a callback.

"When he was informed that a woman from Kerala has called, he was certain it was Ratna Nair," she recalled.

A career lawyer-politician, Jagdeep Dhankhar was sworn in as India's Vice President in August 2022.He previously served as the Governor of the state ofWest Bengal from 2019 to 2022.

He also served as a Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar from 1990 to 1991.

He was a member of Lok Sabha from 1989 to 1991 and later a member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998.

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