Agra: The Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union (AMUSU) has asked President Ram Nath Kovind to apologise for his 2010 remark ‘Islam and Christianity are alien´. The University is gearing up for the celebration of convocation on March 7, where the President is invited to attend the programme.
AMUSU vice-president Sajjad Subhan, in response to Kovind’s statement, said: “Either the President should apologise for his statement or should refrain from attending the convocation. There is resentment among the students against the statement and if anything untoward takes place, then the President and Vice-Chancellor will be responsible for it.”
Advocating the idea that all religions are equal, Subhan said if BJP and the President want peace then his statement should be taken back. Subhan further stated that the President’s visit will not do any good for the University, and he has been invited by the VC due to vested interests. “The VC wants to send a message that AMU has accepted BJP’s ideology,” he said as per a report by News 18.
The student leader had previously warned the University administration for inviting RSS functionaries to enter the campus.
TOI had quoted Secretary AMUSU, Mohd Fahad as saying “If any Sanghi or anyone associated with Gandhi’s assassination and demolition of the Babri Majid attends the convocation, they will not be treated well as we know how to deal with such elements.”
While speaking on a report by the Ranganath Misra Commission, that had recommended 15 percent reservation for socially and economically backward religious and linguistic minorities; Kovind in 2010 had said the recommendation was not possible to be implemented as it would be ‘unconstitutional’ to include Muslims and Christians in Scheduled Caste category.
When Kovind, who was the then BJP spokesperson, was asked that how the reservation was given to Sikhs under the same category, he had said: “Islam and Christianity are alien to India.”