By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Saleem Peerzada, a popular leader among the Aligarh Muslim University fraternity, passed away on Tuesday following a hemorrhagic brain stroke on Monday.
Peerzada, popularly known by the name of Lovey Bhai or Lovey Peerzada, was admitted to AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College soon after the paralytic attack. After he showed no improvement in the condition, he was transferred to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi and then was sent to Apollo hospital.
Saleem Peerzada was born in Hardoi in 1954 to Late Peerzada Mashuq Husain Khan and Afsar Begum. His nephew, Omar Saleem Peerzada is the Public Relations Officer of AMU.
Peerzada was the president of Parcham Party of India (PPI) which has been a famous organization among the AMU community for fighting against communalism.
Saleem Peerzada was famous in AMU for standing against any sort of corruption, fanaticism and communalism. AMU’s student community understands him as a politician which had immense knowledge of history and he was also regarded as one of the best orators AMU has ever produced.
An engineer by education, Peerzada held the Honorary Secretary post of Aligarh Muslim University Students Union in his student days.
Peerzada had an open heart surgery two years ago and was on medication since then. According to people close to him, his condition on Monday became inoperable due to delayed medical treatment and the increased severity of his condition.
For AMU student community, Peerzada’s demise has resulted in a vacuum in the ideological politics of the university. Prof Nadeem Rezavi, Chairman at the Department of History of AMU, recalled Peerzada, “He was the sole true example of the ‘Aligarh Culture’, and I don’t think no one after him has been able to carry it further.”
“He was very much senior to us, and I had political differences with him. But we used to go and listen to his speeches during election times,” said Prof Rezavi.
In his political and social culture of 40 years, Peerzada always stood alongside the political culture in Aligarh Muslim University, and because of the same step, he has been a mentor of the AMU students coming to the student’s politics. In one of the interviews to a national daily, Saleem Peerzada stated, “It is the duty of the government to ensure that educational institutions are not denied their minority character on purely technical grounds and in total disregard to their origin and history.”
AMU Vice Chancellor, Professor Tariq Mansoor has extended his condolences to the bereaved family of the deceased.