‘No need to seek nod… Hindu students should celebrate’: BJP leaders after AMU’s ‘refusal’ to hold Holi Milan event at campus club

Claiming that Muslim students far outnumber their Hindu counterparts at AMU, cleric Maulana Shahabuddin of the Barelvi sect had on Friday appealed to Hindu students not to set a new tradition at AMU by holding a Holi Milan on the campus.

“As per my information, AMU authorities have not given permission to Hindu students to celebrate Holi. The AMU is our honour, grace and is an institute about which all should feel proud. Efforts should be made to maintain the brotherhood between students of the two communities inside AMU,” he said in a statement at Bareilly.

Akhil Kashyap, a Master’s student at AMU, had written to the university authorities last month seeking permission to hold the programme on March 9. However, after a meeting held on February 28, the university allegedly refused to grant permission to hold the programme at the NRC club inside the campus.

“We will not allow a new tradition within the campus. All the festivals including Holi, Diwali, Eid, and others have been celebrated within the campus for the last many years. Then, why permission is needed to hold the Holi Milan function? AMU had never discriminated (against) students on the basis of their religion,” said Wasim Ali, Proctor at AMU.

On Thursday, AMU students, along with office-bearers of the Karni Sena, submitted a memorandum to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Aligarh, seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter.

Following this, ADM Amit Kumar Bhat said the permission has to be given by the university authorities.

Karni Sena has, meanwhile, threatened to enter the campus and hold the event on the occasion of Rang Bharni Ekadashi on March 10. Its state chief Thakur Gyanendra Singh Chauhan led a march on the streets of Aligarh on Thursday, raising slogans against the AMU authorities.