The confrontation between the Aligarh Muslim University and the BJP over celebrating the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, an alumnus of the AMU, ended on Saturday after the university announced that it would hold a seminar to remember the freedom fighter’s contributions to nation building.
For its part, the BJP gave up its proposed plans to organise the celebrations at the AMU campus after the university vice-chancellor in a letter to the HRD Minister had expressed concerns about possible “communal conflagration” and ‘student unrest”.
“I have been assured that there will be no gathering at the university gate on December 1 on the occasion of the 128th anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap. The university will hold a seminar on the contributions of Raja Mahendra Pratap to freedom struggle as an academic activity,” AMU Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen (retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah said in a statement on Saturday.
“I had suggested that the anniversary celebrations, as per past traditions, could be held at the Raja Mahendra Pratap park. The concerned parties have accepted the proposal and we are more than happy on this development,” he said.
In a statement, the university stressed that Mahendra Pratap’s contribution to nation building deserved to be remembered but denied that it had ignored his contribution to the university.
“Like other friends of the founders of this institution, we hold Raja Mahendra Pratap in high respect. [He is] a distinguished alumnus of this institution [and we] have, among other things, his picture in the central library,” said AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar.
Speaking about Mahendra Pratap’s role in the freedom struggle, the AMU VC said: “Raja Mahendra Pratap stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the leading Muslim clerics of that era like Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan and Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi in what is remembered as the ‘Silk Letter Movement’.” His role deserves a very high place in the history of freedom movement of India”.
