Apprehensions that the presence of MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi in the communally sensitive Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday for delivering a speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), when lakhs of Shiva devotees would be celebrating Mahashivaratri, could lead to a tense situation and possible communal clashes, the Aligarh district administration prevailed upon the senior Owaisi to postpone his scheduled visit by a week.
Though officially, the district authorities maintained that they requested Owaisi to postpone his visit due to the Mahashivaratri festival, which is celebrated in a grand scale in Aligarh, sources said the police did not want to invite trouble at a time when lakhs of devotees would be gathering at the Khereshwar temple, one of the holiest shrines in the region and located close to the AMU.
Asaduddin Owaisi was scheduled to be present at the university for a seminar on ‘History of Aligarh college movement’ where he was supposed to deliver a lecture on the issue of reservation Saturday. Sources disclosed to Express that Asaduddin Owaisi was invited by the students union of AMU to deliver the lecture.
However, over the last couple of days, speculations were rife that the AMU union had invited both Asaduddin and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi which led to protests by the Bharatiya Janata Party and their affiliated groups opposing Akbar’s visit in view of the ‘hate speech’ he delivered in Andhra Pradesh in December last which evoked nation-wide criticism.
Sensing the mood of the people and in view of the expected huge gathering for the Mahashivaratri festival, Aligarh district magistrate Rajeev Rautela called up Owaisi Friday evening and requested that he postpone the event and have it sometime next week once the festival is through. Owaisi promptly obliged.
Confirming that the DM and the Vice Chancellor of AMU had spoken to him, Asaduddin Owaisi told Express that he readily agreed to postponing the programme. “I was told that thousands of people gather at the nearby temple for the Mahashivaratri puja and, therefore, it would be in the interest of people to postpone the event. I have no objection and it has been postponed for next week. The date is to be decided,” he said adding that the AMU had offered him life membership.
Asked whether the protests by the BJP and the general mood of the people led to the postponement, Owaisi simply said that such things (protests) cannot be prevented.
“Even I thought why unnecessarily go there at this time. Thousands of people carrying Gangajal visit the temple near AMU,” he said and clarified that no invitation was extended to Akbaruddin Owaisi. The MP said that he had visited Aligarh several times earlier.
Courtesy: The New Indian express