Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address the centenary celebrations of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) today (December 22), the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on December 20.
The prime minister will be joining the 100-year anniversary event via video conferencing at 11 am, according to a press release by the PMO. This is the first time that PM Modi will be participating in an event at the AMU.
It will also be the first time since former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri delivered the university's convocation address that a sitting PM will attend an event there.
The prime minister will be releasing a postal stamp, apart from his address, during the celebration, the PMO had said.
It is also reported that he will release a commemorative coffee table book and be a party to the burial of a time capsule with the university memorabilia. All of the events will be attended online in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and related restrictions.
Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will be joining the event with the prime minister. The Chancellor of the AMU, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, will also be present.
AMU is one of the oldest varsities in the country. It was set up as Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1877. His plan was to establish a university along the lines of Oxford University and Cambridge University.
The college was officially called a university in 1920 under the name of Aligarh Muslim University. The then Vice-Chancellor Mohammad Ali Mohammad Khan (the Raja Saheb of Mahmudabad) inaugurated it on December 17 of that year.
"AMU became a university in 1920, through an Act of Indian Legislative Council by elevating the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College to the status of a Central University. MAO College was set up in 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan,” said the release made by the PMO.
