By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 28 May 2014: In the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s plan to celebrate 128th birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap, one of the first donors and graduates of Aligarh Muslim University, at the university campus, has made the situation tense there forcing the Vice-Chancellor Lt General Zameeruddin Shah to write to HRD Minister Smriti Irani Thursday night to immediately step in.
In the letter, the VC said that the plans of certain elements at Aligarh to celebrate “Raja Mahendra Pratap Day” inside AMU campus on 01 December 2014 have “potential of leading to massive student unrest on the AMU campus.”
The VC also said that the reason advanced by these elements is that Raja Mahendra Pratap donated large tracts of land for the establishment of AMU and that he should be honoured accordingly. He pointed out that the University acknowledges that Raja Mahendra Pratap did lease 1.221 hectares (3.04 acres) of land in 1929 at Rs.2/- per annum to AMU.
“Moreover, we are proud of the fact that this freedom fighter was our alumnus. Besides, him however, there were a large number of other donors. The bulk of the land was procured from the British Government which was in the process of closing down the Aligarh “Chhawani” (Cantonment) from which Sir Syed got 74 acres,” he said and attached a list of other donors with his letter.
Raja Mahendra Pratap (1886-1979) was one of the many illustrious alumni of the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College founded in 1877 by the great social reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. The college later became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920 by an Act of Parliament.
BJP MP from Aligarh Satish Gautam is said to have planned to celebrate Pratap’s birth anniversary. He or his party has never before this time celebrated his or any Hindu donor’s birthday at AMU.
Commenting on the issue in an article, Mohd Asim, Senior News Editor with NDTV, asked: “Have the BJP leaders decided to celebrate the birth anniversaries of all the ‘Hindu’ kings who contributed to educational institutions in the the country over the last couple of centuries?”
“To reduce Raja Mahender to just a Hindu or a Jat king is a great insult to this great soul,” he added.
“Educational institutes, especially as old as the AMU, are built with contributions of hundreds and thousands of people. Do they celebrate or observe the birth and death anniversaries of all the contributors? The best tribute to such souls is to carry on with their legacy and ideals. And AMU is doing that. It just celebrated the birth anniversary of its founder Sir Syed on October 17, as it has every year,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, AMU Students’ Union has also announced to oppose the move of BJP MP of Lok Sabha.
“Raja Mahendra Pratap was a man who wanted to spread education, and his birthday is being used to destabilize his own educational institution. We find it very unfortunate that the name of a man who established ‘Prem Vidyalaya’ is being exploited today to spread the message of hate,” said union president Abdullah Azzam and other student leaders in a joint statement.
“The AMU Students’ Union affirms that the evil designs of communal fascists will not be successful in AMU. The entire Alig fraternity stands united in our effort to stop the politics of hate and division from entering our institution,” they said.
The VC urged the HRD Minister to step in to save the campus from party politics.
“Under these circumstances it is unwise to hold any meeting on 01 December 2014. It is requested that Hon’ble MPs who are issuing statements be advised to exercise a sobering influence. A similar request is being made to opposing parties,” the VC wrote in the letter.
