Veteran Manipuri filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma has written to Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, seeking immediate intervention after Manipur University failed to confer honorary doctorate degrees that were approved in 2022. Sharma described the development as humiliating and politically influenced.

In his letter to the Governor, who serves as the Chief Rector of the university, Aribam Syam Sharma alleged that the institution’s Executive Council took “strange contortions” by proceeding with its 15th Convocation on March 27 without awarding the previously approved honoris causa degrees to three distinguished cultural figures.

He further criticised a subsequent newspaper notification issued by the university to justify the omission, calling it “self-incriminating.” According to Aribam Syam Sharma, the explanation appeared to confirm reports of last-minute interventions that blocked the honours on the grounds that the selected personalities were “not deserving.”
Two of the proposed awardees — noted theatre director Ratan Thiyam and Nat Sankirtana exponent Sougaijam Thanil Singh — have since passed away.

“I am the only one alive of the three,” Sharma wrote, adding that remaining silent would dishonour their memory.
Terming the reported justification as absurd, Sharma highlighted that Thiyam is widely regarded as one of India’s finest theatre directors, while Thanil Singh was among Manipur’s most respected Nat Sankirtana masters.

Now aged 90, Aribam Syam Sharma appealed to authorities to put an end to what he described as repeated indignities towards cultural icons, calling his letter “an old man’s plea” for dignity and fairness.