By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
A day after violence erupted in the campus of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a series of reactions from the various sections of the society have come forward mostly condemning the act of Hindutva goons, while some people also questioned the presence of Jinnah’s photograph in the students’ union building of AMU.
Read more: Police violence in AMU after Hindutva goons attack students
The AMU Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) has condemned the “deliberate criminal activity by the aggressors” on Wednesday. The AMUTA has also condemned the police action on the students of the university and said, “…instead of taking action against the criminal aggressors, AMU students who were victims were re-victimized by lathi-charge.”
On Wednesday, several dozen people reportedly affiliated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu Yuva Vahini – a group formed by Yogi Adityanath – entered the campus through the University’s main gate and thrashed some students passing by. The major objection of the “goons” was the installation of a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the students’ union building of AMU.
The matter became more grave as Hamid Ansari, the former vice-president of India, was inside the campus to deliver his lecture. The AMUTA has pointed the same fact in its letter, “This is a serious security lapse on the part of police administration as former vice president of India was present in the Guest House no. 3 when the incident occurred.”
Rihai Manch, a human rights organisation working in Uttar Pradesh, has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of inciting hatred against Muslims. Shahnawaz Alam, the spokesperson at Rihai Manch said, “By highlighting the AMU controversy, BJP is trying to strengthen its anti-Muslim narrative. That is why Satish Gautam, the BJP member of parliament from Aligarh, raised the issue just before Hamid Ansari’s visit to the AMU.”
People also condemned the action of the police, who released the perpetrators even after the AMU students’ union panelists handed them over to the police.”Police released those terrorists who were going to attack former VP Ansari, because they had Muslims as the target in their mind,” said Alam.
In 1938, Jinnah, the Muslim League leader, was given an honorary membership of AMU’s Students’ Union, which is why his portrait was hung in the building of the same.
In the press statement released on Thursday, Muslim Students Federation (MSF) said, “Jinnah’s portrait at AMU Students’ Union Hall is a historical preservation and it will remain there anyway.”
MSF has also protested the move to “stereotype AMU as a regressive, radical and undemocratic institution.”
“The government and police must not act as the instruments of BJP goons. We will extend our support and join the students and others who are protesting against the move,” said MSF in the press statement.
Asaduddin Owaisi, the member of Indian parliament and President All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen, said in the tweet, “why did the local police allow the Hindutva goons to enter AMU campus shows that @CMOfficeUP wants to vitiate the University campus?”
Attack on students of AMU & AMU students union leaders is highly condemnable why did the local police allow the Hindutva goons to enter AMU campus shows that @CMOfficeUP wants to vitiate the University campus
— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) May 2, 2018
However, there are many who are relating the Wednesday “conflict” with the upcoming Karnataka elections. Navaid Hamid, the president at All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, told TwoCircles.net, “BJP is certainly trying to gain ground from this controversy as the polling in Karnataka is going to held in next few days. They must state that why they have not expelled or raised the demand for expulsion of Lal Krishna Advani, who went to Pakistan and rather wrote a book on JInnah?”
Ameer Ahmad, member of AMU executive council and AMU court, has put out a statement calling for peace within the varsity campus as well as in the community. Ahmad said, “These are all planned move to provoke us. If we fall prey into their trap, then they are successful. So, please think before you react.”
“India is our country too. Also majority of the Hindus are not communal still. That worries these goons. They want a polarisation for which only hope left for them is to provoke us and make us to react so that they can use the media and the machineries with them to propagate and malign the community as well as try to get the majority secular, decent and non-communal Hindus to their side,” Ahmad further said. “They don’t realise by this how much damage they are doing to this great nation.”
On the other hand, the students’ union at Aligarh Muslim University is mulling to file a petition at Allahabad High Court against the district administration for taking violent action against the union members as well as the students who were trying to catch the goons.