The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Aligarh, Satish Kumar Gautam, who triggered a national controversy over a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), said it was time to change the “mentality” of the university that is presently “inclined” towards a particular community.
Speaking to DNA on Thursday, Gautam said, “AMU was set up as a bride that had both communities — Muslims and Hindus — as its two eyes. It should be run like that, but that is not the case. It’s time to change the mentality of the entire AMU community. I regularly receive complaints of discrimination against people belonging to other communities.”
Gautam is also a member of the AMU Court — the highest decision-making body of AMU.
Gautam said he has been constantly raising his concerns over those “discrimination” ever since his election as the district’s representative.
“The university celebrates Sir Syed Day in the memory of its founder, but why doesn’t it consider giving equal importance to Raja Mahendra Pratap who donated the major part of the land on which the university was established.
Why this discrimination?” Gautam asked.
When asked about the reason for raising the issue of portrait, which has been in the AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) hall since 1938, Gautam said, “I was not aware about it. Someone informed me about this on April 30, and the same day I wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, asking him to remove it.”
As per AMU’s tradition, its student union grants honorary memberships to prominent personalities in the field of politics, social or educational work. Pictures of all these members, including Jinnah, adorn its office walls. The first such membership was granted to Mahatma Gandhi in 1920. “What good did Jinnah do for the country except propelling its partition,” he asked.
Advising AMU students not to waste their time on “activism”, Gautam said, “There is a section of students who harbour political ambitions. They are trying to disturb the environment on the campus.”
Meanwhile, students accused Gautam of constantly interfering in AMU’s campus activities. “He has been trying to communalise the campus ever since he was elected. This is not the first time he has triggered such a controversy,” said AMUSU vice-president Sajad Subhan.
