AMU Jinnah portrait row: Hindutva activists attack AMU students; UP CM Yogi Adityanath says, 'Jinnah cannot be honoured in India'
Clashes over missing a decades-old photograph of Mohammed Ali Jinnah left at least 28 students in a lathi-charge on Wednesday at the Aligarh Muslim University. The Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath today pointing on 'missing' Jinnah portrait said there is no question of celebrating Muhammad Ali Jinnah in India.
Speaking to India Today TV in an exclusive interview on board a flight to Hubli, Karnataka, Adityanath said, "Jinnah divided this country. How can we celebrate his achievements? I have asked for an inquiry [into the clash in AMU]. We will act as soon as the report is submitted." He added that the inquiry report is expected by Friday.
News agency ANI has reported that 41 people, including 28 students and 13 cops, were injured on Wednesday during the clashes between students and police at AMU.
The Hindutva activists, the Hindu Yuva Vahini attacked AMU students and violently demanded that a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah- which has been hanging inside the students' union hall for 80 years – be taken down. The clashes over the Jinnah has triggered controversy across the country.
According to The Wire, hours before the former vice president of India, Hamid Ansari, was to visit AMU for an event, some 30 activists of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, accompanied by uniformed policemen, came to Bab-e-Syed – the central gate of AMU. They shouted slogans like ‘We will not let such respect for Jinnah pass in India”, “If you want to remain in India, you must say Vande Mataram’, “Vande Mataram, Jai Shri Ram!’
Meanwhile, university spokesman Shafey Kidwai has defended the move to display the portrait of Jinnah, saying he was a founder member of the University Court and was granted life membership of the student union. The AMU has been maintaining that Jinnah’s portrait was installed in 1938 when he was honoured with a lifetime member of the student union, much before the partition in 1947.
Traditionally, photographs of all life members are placed on the walls of the student union, he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
However, the AMU authorities added that the portrait was removed from the student union’s hall temporarily for ‘cleaning purposes’.
First published: 3 May 2018, 12:37 IST