The Aligarh Muslim University unit of the Student Islamic Organisation (SIO) has condemned the decision to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the centenary celebration of the university on Tuesday.
In an unsigned press statement, the SIO said it had “profound disagreement with Narendra Modi’s idea of India” and the political ideology of Hindutva that he represented. It said the organisation was among the first to raise the issue of his response to “the Gujarat pogrom of 2002.”
The letter further said the AMU deserved protection as a minority institute under Article 30 of the Constitution but the Narendra Modi government is at the “forefront in taking away this constitutional right from our university.” It underlined the statements of the U.P. Chief Minister and Aligarh MP Satish Gautam who had questioned the minority status of the AMU in the past.
The letter alleged that the Modi government attempted to “seize our citizenship” through Citizenship Amendment Act and criticised the government for not taking action against the police after “a planned crackdown on December 15 and 16” in AMU and Jamia Millia Islamia.
It also reminded him of “the systematic attack on our university in the name of a portrait”.
The SIO also took the Vice-Chancellor to task for not addressing the concerns of the students during the pandemic and appealed to the Prime Minister to hold him responsible for his failures. It said Mr. Modi had many a time stated that criticism was like a treasure that he would cherish. “Hence we would like to apprise him of the situation in AMU, caused majorly by the actions of his government and the V-C who has been placed by it.”
