It was just another Normal day at the campus of Aligarh Muslim University. As the classes were going on the campus was buzzing with series of events lined up with regular campus activities. There was a memorial lecture on Asifa and others who recently became victims of hate killings. In the historic Kennedy auditorium was the screening of the film “five broken cameras” along with an interactive session with the directors of the same. Reporters were present their to cover the story and most of them were regional. It all started when the reporters from Republic TV somehow got inside the premises of the campus and when asked to leave the campus since they were not carrying any permission from any authority they got into an altercation with the guards and students around. The matter got heated up when they were asked to leave the campus by the security officials of the proctor office but they instead of leaving the campus started the fiasco by misbehaving with the security officials and called the institution as the “University Of Terrorists”.One of the female reporter from the Republic TV started yelling that if she won’t be allowed to shoot she will file a false complaint of sexual harassment and manhandling. She along with her crew of Republic TV was safely escorted out of the campus of AMU, wrote an eye witness in one of his Facebook posts.
On the other hand there were rumors that member of parliament Asaduddin Owaisi is in the campus and some anti social elements tried to just instigate the violence by using his name and saying they are opposing the presence of him even though he was not present there. The matter got worse when some goons tried firing at the AMU Students Union secretary Huzaifa Amir. In retaliation the students too burnt up the bike and protested. This created an atmosphere of disruption and chaos in campus. What aggravated the whole incident was that FIR was registered against atleast 14 students with charges as grave as sedition, rioting and robbery. The FIR has been lodged against former AMU Students Union president Maskoor Ahmad Usmani who was reportedly not in the town on the day of incident. The FIR has been filed by BJP goons and the reporters of Republic TV. M. Salman Imtiyaz the President of AMU Students Union condemns the incident calling out at BJP and RSS for its propaganda to disrupt peace in a institute of national importance.
“We condemn the communal approach of BJP and its allied media houses and take strong objection to their interference into the campus. The pro-BJP lobby has been active in creating hatred among Hindu and Muslim students at AMU, and trying to incite a communal divide. We assure the nation that the unity and integrity of AMU will be secured by blood and sweat, and no harm to brotherhood at AMU will be allowed. The Students Union body demands an FIR against all the instigators of violence also demanding the rustication of all the students involved in setting the campus on fire.” States Salman Imtiyaz in the press release.
This is not the first time when something like this has happened. Since the past few years ever since the BJP came into power not just Aligarh Muslim University but all the major universities of India became a target of malicious propaganda of BJP. They want to shut down every institution that questions the functioning of the regime. It happened in JNU, HCU, BHU, JMI and so many other universities that raised the questions concerning the present government. Also students have always been on target of these right wing elements as they are educated and aware and cannot be manipulated easily, said one of the student from AMU.
Last year around the same time Aligarh Muslim University was in so much news for its controversy regarding Jinnah. This year again they created a controversy out of nowhere hence with the general elections around the corner the present government is looking for means to fuel the fire, said another student.
Hence the students are angry but are protesting peacefully by democratic means. An advisory has been issued by the University to not to leave the campus as a precautionary measure. Also no official statement has been given by the Vice Chancellor of the university so far.
Farheen Fatima is studying M A Mass Communication in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and she writes on politics and gender in online news platforms.
