JNU VC calls Draupadi India's first feminist at BHU conference

A very important person at a big university in India gave a speech at another university.

Her name is Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, and she is in charge of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

In her speech, she said that Draupadi, a brave woman from the very old Indian story called the Mahabharata, was India's first feminist.

A feminist is someone who believes women and men should be treated equally.

She said people should not think that Indian feminism started with Western thinkers or ideas.

She also said that India has moved past treating women unfairly, and that people are even scared of India's mother goddesses.

In the old story, Draupadi asked her husbands hard questions after they lost her in a dice game, and the Vice-Chancellor said nobody would dare ask such questions today.

She also said her own university has money problems and joked that building a temple there could help bring in money.

She criticized some people at her university who, she says, care more about their own ideas than about facts.

Some people will agree with her, and others will have different opinions about what she said.