Agra: Portraits of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan along with Gandhi ji were displayed during an exhibition in the Maulana Azad Library has again created a major row with political parties in India criticizing the act.
The varsity was conducting the exhibition as a part of Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, TOI reported.
The university administration, when asked to comment on the issue said they were not aware of Jinnah’s pictures with Gandhi among the exhibits in the library.
Interestingly, the exhibition was inaugurated by AMU pro-vice-chancellor Mohammad Hanif Beg on October 2.
Varsity spokesperson Shafey Kidwai responding on the issue said the AMU administration was not aware of Jinnah’s pictures and that it had later taken care of it, while also issuing a show-cause notice to librarian Amzad Ali.
Meanwhile, Aligarh’s BJP MP Satish Gautam, criticizing the act said, “We cannot tolerate Jinnah’s pictures with Mahatma Gandhi as Jinnah was responsible for the partition of India.”
While Former Aligarh mayor and BJP leader Shakuntala Bharti said, “Were they celebrating Gandhi Jayanti or Jinnah Jayanti? This is an educational institute and they should not disgrace it with their actions. If they want to display Jinnah pictures, they should go to Pakistan.”
Manvendra Pratap Singh who is a member of the national minority education monitoring committee also questioned why the “jinn of Jinnah” (ghost of Jinnah) keeps haunting the varsity.
“Many respectable personalities were associated with Gandhi Ji then why only Jinnah’s pictures with him were displayed,” he had asked.