Lucknow: The controversy over the Jinnah portrait in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) seems to be taking a new turn with the AMU Students’ Union demanding that the Centre should state in writing that it wants the portrait to be removed.
The students say that if the Centre asks them in writing to remove the portrait, they would comply.
“The problem is that the issue is not the Jinnah portrait though the right-wing activists are trying to make it seem so. The AMU students are protesting against the police, which is not taking action against those who attacked us on May 2 with the intention to prevent former vice-president Hamid Ansari from attending an event on the campus,” said Mohammad Fahad, secretary of the AMU Students’ Union (Amusu).
Fahad is among those who were injured in the police lathicharge on May 2 on the campus.
Meanwhile, on Monday, two youth wanted in connection with the violence in Aligarh Muslim University on May 2 have been arrested by the police for allegedly trying to breach peace and posting inflammatory material on social media.
Amit Goswami and Yogesh Varshney, former city president of Hindu Yuva Vahini, were arrested late on Sunday and sent to jail, the police said.
According to the SO (Civil Lines) Javed Khan, they were arrested under Sections 147 (rioting), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) of the IPC.
The duo had allegedly posted objectionable material on social media which had led to temporary suspension of Internet service in the city.
The Amusu secretary added that right-wing activists had been targeting AMU ever since the students said that they would not allow RSS activists to attend any function on the campus. The issue was raised in March during President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to AMU.
In a related development, the Hindu Jagran Manch has now demanded that the name of Aligarh Muslim University should be changed to Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh University since the latter had given his land for the institution.
