After Ayodhya, all eyes on Nitish Kumar's visit to AMU

NEW DELHI: Even as large swathes of Uttar Pradesh remained under section 144 and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders were arrested across the state, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar seems to have decided that the current showdown between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in UP needed a tweaking.

The Janata Dal (U) leader who famously broke ranks with the BJP this year, will be addressing students at Aligarh Muslim University, India’s biggest minority education institution next month, staking a claim to minority consideration in UP as well.

“Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has in principle agreed to address students of AMU, and he has suggested September 7th or 8th as possible dates for the event,” confirmed university public relations officer Rahat Abrar. He clarified however, that the invitation had been extended by a group of students and not by the vice chancellor. That could of course be because of the topic on which Kumar has been asked to speak, that of preserving the minority character of AMU.

“The matter of preserving the minority character of the university is sub judice and is being looked into by the Supreme Court. There is no point in soliciting political support for the matter. Which is why the invitation is from students,” said a senior faculty member in the know of developments.

In fact, invitations to politicians from AMU whether official or unofficial and its role in shaping polices towards muslims has long been a tradition. After the Shah Bano verdict, the AMU had protested the SC order, an act which some in the university still maintain led to the rise of the BJP in a big way.

A few years ago, the vice chancellor had invited senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi to participate in an iftaar during the holy month of Ramadan, only to have students barricade the venue to prevent Joshi’s entry.

A stand between students and the police was barely averted then. “For Nitish Kumar, we don’t anticipate any trouble except that the topic is a little controversial,” said a student who is part of the organising committee.