Jinnah’s portrait not removed from varsity campus: AMUSU
AGRA: Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union (AMUSU) president Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani on Tuesday stated that Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait had not been removed from the university’s campus.
He urged political leaders to refrain from ‘politics over portrait’ and claimed that the ‘jinn of Jinnah’ (ghost of Jinnah) was brought out for political gains in Karnataka elections, but ‘backfired’ for those raking up the issue.
Usmani was speaking during a press conference called for detailing the tasks being undertaken by Preeta Harit, principal commissioner of income tax, who runs Bahujan Samyak Sanghathan, an organisation taking up social causes. “She expressed solidarity with the cause of Aligarh Muslim University students. Harit also extended support to AMUSU,” stated Usmani. In her statement to the press, Harit condemned “addition of communal colour” to the issues faced by AMU.
“Being an IRS officer, I serve the government but have responsibility as a citizen and thus hold the constitution in high regard,” stated Harit. Talking about the Jinnah portrait controversy dogging AMU, she condemned efforts to raise ‘dead’ issues and attempts for reaping political gains out of it.
Later, Usmani took the media to the spot where Jinnah’s portrait is placed on the union hall’s wall in AMU. He criticised false claims being made about removal of Jinnah portrait from AMU. “The portrait of Jinnah at AMU is a non-issue. It was raised for political gains in Karnataka assembly elections but backfired for them. The portrait continues to be at the place where it was,” stated Usmani in a veiled attack on the BJP.
“Those spreading false information, claiming that the portrait of Jinnah has been removed should care for maintaining the dignity of the constitutional posts they are holding,” stated Usmani.
During a TV show recently, the union home minister was reported to have claimed that Jinnah’s portrait had been removed from the AMU while UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had stated that there was no place for Jinnah’s portrait in UP.