A portrait of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah inside the campus of prestigious Aligarh Muslim University has sparked a fresh controversy.
It all started when BJP lawmaker from Aligarh Satish Gautam wrote a letter to AMU Vice-Chancellor Tariq Mansoor and sought and ‘explanation’ over Jinnah’s portrait hung inside the Students’ Union Office.
‘I have heard a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah is hung inside the campus. Kindly gather more details on this and give reasons behind it,’ Gautam wrote in the letter to the AMU.
The letter further read, ‘The whole world knows that Jinnah was the main force behind the partition of India. In this case, how logical is it to hang his portrait in the University.’
However, AMU public relations officer Shafey Kidwai clarified that the administration had nothing to do with the portrait.
‘In 1938, Muhammad Ali Jinnah came to Aligarh University and he was given an honorary degree like many others by the union. The administration had nothing to do with it,’ Kidwai was quoted as saying to news agency ANI.
Reacting to the development, ex-AMU students union president Faizul Hassan told Times of India that there was no chapter on Jinnah and that if the government wants to remove the portrait, it can order so and appropriate action would be taken.
But, present AMU Student Union president Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani was of differing view and was quoted saying, ‘Jinnah was the hero of undivided India. Jinnah had been given lifetime membership of the body before 1947 and that is why his picture has been displayed and will always remain there.’
