A section of students at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) are up in arms against the university administration for denying permission to hold a Holi Milan function in a club inside the campus on March 9. The students, along with the office-bearers of the Karni Sena outfit, on Thursday submitted a memorandum to the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), Aligarh, seeking the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the matter. “The permission to hold any function inside the campus has to be given by the authorities there. We are currently in talks with them (AMU team) based on the memorandum given by the office-bearers of the Karni Sena. Whatever decision is taken after the negotiation will be implemented and none will be allowed to disturb the law and order in the city on the issue,” said Amit Kumar Bhat, ADM. Karni Sena, meanwhile, has threatened to enter the campus and hold the Holi Milan on the occasion of Rang Bharni Ekadshi on March 10. “We will go ahead with our programme whether the AMU authorities give us permission or not,” said Thakur Gyanendra Singh Chauhan, state chief of Karni Sena. Chauhan also led a march on the streets of Aligarh on Thursday, raising slogans against the AMU authorities, before submitting the memorandum to the ADM. Akhil Kashyap, a Master’s student at AMU who had written to the university authorities last month seeking permission for holding the programme on March 9. “Our PM has declared the AMU campus as mini Bharat,then why the AMU authorities discriminate between festivals held by Muslims and Hindus. Eid Milan, and Roza Iftaar programmes are held within the campus, but we have been denied permission for holding the Holi Milan function here,” he said . The AMU, however, refused to grant permission to hold the programme at the NRC club inside the campus, leading to resentment among a group of students. “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 past many years. Then, why permission is needed to hold the Holi Milan function? AMU had never discriminated students on the basis of their religion,” said Wasim Ali, proctor at AMU.
