Aligarh: The Aligarh administration today imposed Section 144 in the town amid tension in the Aligarh Muslim University over the Jinnah portrait issue. To avoid any untoward incident, the university administration also suspended classes for next five days.
‘The internet services will remain suspended in Aligarh from 2:00pm Friday to 12 midnight Saturday to avoid circulation of “communal” messages on social networking sites.’ ADM (City) SB Singh told DNA.
Tempers were high at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus on Thursday with more than five thousand students gathering at its main gate– Baab-e-Sayyad—demanding a judicial probe against right-wing activists who entered AMU and clashed with the students.
Around 28 students got injured after the police resorted to lathi-charge. They had barged into the campus to remove the portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
At around 11am, as many as 150 students reached the spot amid slogans like “We want justice” and “Say no to fascist forces”. The crowd swelled within few hours and the entire area was cordoned off by the police and the paramilitary forces. The students were also joined by the hundreds of teaching and non-teaching faculty members and alumni.
AMU Students’ Union (AMUSU) president Mashkoor Ahmed Usmani, who got injured in the melee, alleged that it was a ‘planned attack’. “Armed activist of several Hindu outfits including Yogi Adityanath’s Hindu Yuva Vahini were escorted by the police to the campus at around 2:15 pm on Wednesday. Raising provoking slogans, they start moving towards guest house number 3 where former Vice-President Hamid Ansari was present,” he said. However, Hindu Yuva Vahini state general secretary PK Mull denied any involvement of his organisation in the incident.
“Instead of arresting those goons who were trying to attack the former Vice-President, the police lathi charged the students,” Usmani said. “We will go to the National Human Rights’ Commission and file a petition in the Allahabad High Court,” said AMUSU vice-president Sajad Subhan.