New Delhi: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, has written letter to Minister of Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani, warning that the proposed plan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to celebrate the birthday of a Jat king and freedom fighter Raja Mahendra Pratap may result into ‘massive student unrest' and probably ‘communal conflagration'.
“A political gamesmanship is going on... if allowed to proceed, it may create serious trouble,” the Vic Chancellor said in his letter to the Union Minister.
The BJP has announced to celebrate Raja Mahendra Pratap's birthday inside the varsity campus on December 1.
The Jat King's birth anniversary is celebrated as Raja Mahendra Pratap Day on December 1 every year.
Zameer had earlier also met leaders of BJP and ABVP to discuss the matter.
On the other hand, the BJP's decision has triggered a controversy in political fraternity of the state with the ruling Samajwadi Party opposing it.
SP MLA from Koil, Zameerullah Khan, alleged that the BJP wants to create Muzaffarnagar like situation in Aligarh by creating differences between Jats and Muslims.
Meanwhile, BJP's state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpai said that the party wanted to celebrate the birthday of a great freedom fighter who donated land for the development of AMU.
Raja Mahendra Pratap was not only an alumnus of AMU but a great freedom fighter too. He was closely involved in the Silk Handkerchief Movement (Reshmi Roomal Tehreek) with the leading Muslim clerics of that era including Maulana Mahmoodul Hasan, Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi and Maulana Barkatullah.
