Key Highlights

• Homecoming: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inaugurated the Centenary Academic Block at her alma mater, Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College, on Tuesday as Chief Guest.
• Backbencher to CM: She credited the college’s professors for encouraging her to move from the back benches to leading the state.
• Not just one Rekha Gupta: She said thousands of the college’s women graduates are making their mark across the country.
• Then vs now: Gupta contrasted the limited courses and pagers of her student days with today’s skill-based courses.
• AI-ready future: She said students are “updating” themselves in the era of Artificial Intelligence to meet future challenges.

Most inauguration speeches focus on buildings. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s speech at Daulat Ram College on Tuesday focused on a seat in the back row.

Gupta was the Chief Guest at Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College, where she inaugurated the new Centenary Academic Block. For her, it wasn’t just another official event. It was a return to the campus where she studied.

“It is truly a moment of great happiness for me to come here to my own college. I believe Daulat Ram College has played a very important role in the journey I have undertaken from there to where I am today,” she told the gathering.

From the Back Bench to the Chief Minister’s Chair

The most memorable part of her address was a candid admission. Gupta recalled that as a student she preferred to sit at the back, even when teachers asked her to move forward.

“The professors and faculty at Daulat Ram College always gave us such strong encouragement that today, that girl who was once a backbencher, has come to the front and has the courage to lead this entire state,” she said.

The line carries weight because of how her career developed. Gupta’s political journey began in Delhi University student politics, where she served as president of the Delhi University Students’ Union in the 1990s, and she went on to become Delhi’s fourth woman Chief Minister. Her message to the students in the audience was clear: confidence can be built, and where you sit today doesn’t decide where you will stand tomorrow.

She stressed that the college had produced not just one Rekha Gupta but many. “Thousands of women across the country, who completed their graduation and post-graduation from this college, are making their mark in society and bringing glory to the nation,” she said, adding that one day people would say of today’s students, “this girl belongs to Daulat Ram.”

Pagers, Then; AI, Now

Gupta also offered a light, nostalgic comparison between her college days and the present. Back then, she said, courses were limited, and students had no mobile phones. “Our parents bought us pagers, using which, we could only exchange messages regarding when we had reached and by what time our classes would be over,” she recalled.

Today, she noted, students are being prepared for the future through a range of skill-based courses. In the era of technology, and especially Artificial Intelligence, she said young women are “updating” themselves and building the skills and determination to take on future challenges.

That shift is the real story behind the new block. Physical infrastructure on campuses is increasingly about making room for new kinds of learning, not just more classrooms. For a women’s college like Daulat Ram, new academic space linked to skill-based learning can widen what students are able to study and the careers they can aim for.

More Than a Ribbon-Cutting

When an alumna returns to a college as the head of government, the event inevitably becomes about representation. Gupta’s speech turned a ribbon-cutting into a story students could relate to: a hesitant backbencher, encouraging teachers, and a path that led to leadership.

As Delhi’s universities prepare students for an AI-driven job market, the Centenary Academic Block now stands as both new infrastructure and a reminder that the next leaders may well be sitting in the back row today.

Key Highlights

• Homecoming: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta inaugurated the Centenary Academic Block at her alma mater, Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College, on Tuesday as Chief Guest.
• Backbencher to CM: She credited the college’s professors for encouraging her to move from the back benches to leading the state.
• Not just one Rekha Gupta: She said thousands of the college’s women graduates are making their mark across the country.
• Then vs now: Gupta contrasted the limited courses and pagers of her student days with today’s skill-based courses.
• AI-ready future: She said students are “updating” themselves in the era of Artificial Intelligence to meet future challenges.

Most inauguration speeches focus on buildings. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s speech at Daulat Ram College on Tuesday focused on a seat in the back row.

Gupta was the Chief Guest at Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College, where she inaugurated the new Centenary Academic Block. For her, it wasn’t just another official event. It was a return to the campus where she studied.

“It is truly a moment of great happiness for me to come here to my own college. I believe Daulat Ram College has played a very important role in the journey I have undertaken from there to where I am today,” she told the gathering.

From the Back Bench to the Chief Minister’s Chair

The most memorable part of her address was a candid admission. Gupta recalled that as a student she preferred to sit at the back, even when teachers asked her to move forward.

“The professors and faculty at Daulat Ram College always gave us such strong encouragement that today, that girl who was once a backbencher, has come to the front and has the courage to lead this entire state,” she said.

The line carries weight because of how her career developed. Gupta’s political journey began in Delhi University student politics, where she served as president of the Delhi University Students’ Union in the 1990s, and she went on to become Delhi’s fourth woman Chief Minister. Her message to the students in the audience was clear: confidence can be built, and where you sit today doesn’t decide where you will stand tomorrow.

She stressed that the college had produced not just one Rekha Gupta but many. “Thousands of women across the country, who completed their graduation and post-graduation from this college, are making their mark in society and bringing glory to the nation,” she said, adding that one day people would say of today’s students, “this girl belongs to Daulat Ram.”

Pagers, Then; AI, Now

Gupta also offered a light, nostalgic comparison between her college days and the present. Back then, she said, courses were limited, and students had no mobile phones. “Our parents bought us pagers, using which, we could only exchange messages regarding when we had reached and by what time our classes would be over,” she recalled.

Today, she noted, students are being prepared for the future through a range of skill-based courses. In the era of technology, and especially Artificial Intelligence, she said young women are “updating” themselves and building the skills and determination to take on future challenges.

That shift is the real story behind the new block. Physical infrastructure on campuses is increasingly about making room for new kinds of learning, not just more classrooms. For a women’s college like Daulat Ram, new academic space linked to skill-based learning can widen what students are able to study and the careers they can aim for.

More Than a Ribbon-Cutting

When an alumna returns to a college as the head of government, the event inevitably becomes about representation. Gupta’s speech turned a ribbon-cutting into a story students could relate to: a hesitant backbencher, encouraging teachers, and a path that led to leadership.

As Delhi’s universities prepare students for an AI-driven job market, the Centenary Academic Block now stands as both new infrastructure and a reminder that the next leaders may well be sitting in the back row today.