By Sadiq Zafar for Twocircles.net
An initiation has been made by the administrative authorities of Jamia Millia Islamia to invite the Prime Minister of our nation to be the honorary guest for the annual convocation ceremony. The Prime Minister’s Office is yet to revert to the invitation from the administrative authorities of the university.
But why am I protesting? Is it because of the ideological differences or is there any anger and anguish in my watering eyes. I am writing this article enveloped in an environment filled with hate and intolerance, where my words are asking me whether I will be able to speak up after this or not. Starting my argument from the days of his electoral campaign for the parliamentary elections, I am reminded of a speech during his campaign when our PM called out my University, linking it with terror and disrespecting even the judicial process. Just because of the Univesity’s name and to give a message of minority witch hunting in a majoritarian democracy, his words had to provide him a political mileage and they did. With his calling out name of our University, a comment from Prof. VK Malhotra, a right-wing political leader followed, branding the neighborhood in which Jamia is established as a terror hub. Some even called it a mini Pakistan. And these things were happening before they came in power at the national stage.
The role of our media in defaming Jamia is also very much evident. If a student has even applied to study in the University but because of his wrong doings gets caught by the police in some other incidence, media will report this event as ‘A Jamia applicant caught by the Police’. This is a catchy thing for a certain mindset who see Jamia the way our national political representation sees. This is something serious, branding a name of an educational institution with a label of terror and crime needs to be stopped. But why should they stop doing something loved by our PM: to fill the minds with hate against the whole institution without even knowing the ground truth. As a student of architecture from the University, even with an official permission letter, doing a case study of buildings, documentation, clicking of photographs and getting architectural drawings were the most difficult tasks to accomplish and embarrassing. In some cases, such activities resulted in landing into the police stations and facing interrogations, because of the name of Jamia: which our PM and his men see as an institution where terror activities are supported.
These are not the things of past, these are the existing truths which can never be denied. Our PM and his administration has made our institution one of the institutions of Nazi’s Germany where one had just to be harassed, embarrassed and face humiliations and here the right to speak is not even with the celebrity alma mater like Shahrukh Khan and Kiran Rao. My words are my protest and I’ll keep on writing until our PM apologises for the words he used for my beloved university: he never will do that, but I will write until we create an atmosphere where the name of Jamia Millia Islamia is seen with respect and honor.
Sadiq Zafar is an architect and the author of Sustainable Development of Yamuna Floodplain, Delhi