Well here is a letter of a pious “Muslim”. Look at his language and import. Is his bias and line of argument any different from any Hindutva exponent?
He forgets, Arif Muhammad Khan, Shahnawaz Husain, MJ Akbar, Najma Heptullah and a host of others (including the Abdullah’s and Mufti’s of Kashmir who for their own vested interests would sleep / slept with Hindutva and hand over Kashmir on a platter to the fascists), who are active proponents of Moditva! None to my knowledge (and in their own dreams) a Shi’a.
Is Azam Khan today silent because he too had converted to Shiism?
Where will these petty biases and hatred take us? It is all the more saddening that this letter is written by an Old Boy of AMU!
Does he reveal only his own personal ignorance and wickedness or is he representative of a larger malaise! For an answer to this simple question, I will wait for the responses which this letter would receive on the mailing group where it has been posted. At the moment I would give a benefit of doubt to those who allowed such a letter to be posted in the first place!
Till such thinking and communal and sectarian views persist, Moditva will go on succeeding and decimating you one by one!
Here is the text of the letter on an Aligarh forum inhabited by teachers and alumni of AMU:
“What is so curious about this Shia Hindu bonhomie. It’s a known reality since times. Brush up your history.
Nothing new, nothing surprising,nothing to be worried about.
From Al Qhemi, the father of treachery, betrayal, double speak and backstabbing. Who was vizier to the last Abbasid Caliph Muttasim Billah and invited Halagu to Baghdad resulting in the historic destruction of the city and end of the Abbasids Caliphate(1258) to Jaffer of Deccan and Sadiq of Bengal, Shia political history is full of treachery and betrayal.
Their educational and intellectual excellence is superb producing some of the greatest poets, writers educationist and thinkers.
However, their deviancy is based on a doctrine that till the coming or appearance of the hidden Imam all forms of governments are false and unacceptable. Hence their betrayal and treachery to bring down Caliphs, kings and rulers. The Nizam of Hyderabad is also reported to be victim of Shia courtiers. Who betrayed him to the Indian government and were accordingly rewarded with positions and governorship after merger of the state.
The exception to this doctrine was the late Ayatulla Khomeini, the architect of Iranian Islamic revolution of 1970’s.
He defended his leadership by promoting counter doctrine, that of Vilatayal Faqhi. (the governance of jurist) till the appearance of the righteous Imam.
They are very compatible to any system, isms and other religions that can enable them to maintain status quo till the appearance of the Imam.
I have some very good and kind hearted Shia friends. I am only putting facts to ink objectively.”
This was in response to an equally debatable column published on 9 May 2018 in the daily Indian Express
Garundhwaj Singh the grandson of the Jat king and an old boy and ‘donor’, Raja Mahendra Pratap (1 December 1886 – 29 April 1979) reached the gates of AMU on 5th May 2018 with his grandfather’s portrait and demanded that the same be displayed at AMU since “he had donated the land to the institution”.
In 1895 Pratap was admitted to the Government High School in M.A.O. College, Aligarh. He could not complete his graduation and left the college in 1905. He was a freedom fighter, journalist and a Marxist revolutionary who hated the Hindu Maha Sabha and stood for secular ideals. He also took part in the Balkan War in the year 1911 along with his fellow students of MAO college.
He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932. His nominator NA Nilsson, said about him:
“Pratap gave up his property for educational purposes, and he established a technical college at Brindaban. In 1913 he took part in Gandhi’s campaign in South Africa. He traveled around the world to create awareness about the situation in Afghanistan and India. In 1925 he went on a mission to Tibet and met the Dalai Lama. He was primarily on an unofficial economic mission on behalf of Afghanistan, but he also wanted to expose the British brutalities in India. He called himself the servant of the powerless and weak.”
In 1977, AMU, under V-C Prof A M Khusro, felicitated Mahendra Pratap at the centenary celebrations of MAO.
According to the AMU website, the Jat king who defeated former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1957 Lok Sabha polls from Mathura, did lease 3.04 acres of land to AMU in 1929 at a rate of Rs. 2/- per annum.
This tall man’s grandson has been misled by the BJP and Hindutva propaganda! We at AMU cordially invite him to come over to Maulana Azad Central Library to witness for himself the photograph of his revered father hanging on the walls of the library along the photographs of the other luminaries, and benefactors of AMU!
Photo Credit: Lubna Irfan
Date of click: 8 May 2018
Note: The Maulana Azad Central Library is open from 8:00 am to late night. All are welcome to see the photograph for themselves.
Amidst the row over Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a Hindutva group, Hindu Jagran Manch, on Sunday 5th May 2018, demanded renaming of the varsity after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, who had “donated land” for it.
Poor Raja Mahendra Pratap will be sad in heavens today: as he had donated whatever he had, selflessly for the cause of education!
Mahendra Pratap Singh (1886-1979), freedom fighter and social reformist, had received education in MAO and was also one of the donors to his alma mater.
According to the AMU website, the Jat king who defeated former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1957 Lok Sabha polls from Mathura, did lease 3.04 acres of land to AMU in 1929 at a rate of Rs. 2/- per annum.
If “donations” were a criteria for naming or re-naming a University, then there are actually thousands of claimants, of which hundreds were non-Muslims, as far as Aligarh Muslim University is concerned!
For his Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (M.A.O.) College, which later grew into Aligarh Muslim University, Sir Syed took donations from all categories of men or women, who were rich and the poor, zamindars and traders, noblemen and prostitutes, Hindu or Muslims: all who could pay for his cause were approached.
A committee was formed by the name of foundation of Muslim College and asked people to fund generously. The, then, Viceroy and Governor General of India Lord Northbrook gave a donation of Rs 10000 and the Lt. Governor of the North Western Provinces contributed Rs 1000 and by March 1874 the fund for the college stood at Rs 153492 and 8 anas.
Later funds were collected for a “dārul ulūm Musalmanān”, a Muslim University in which many generously contributed.
His Highness Sri Maharao Raja Mahamdar Singh Mahamder Bahadur, G.C.S.I., the late Maharaja of Patiala contributed Rs.58,000.
Maharaj Rameshwar Singh (1860-1929) of Darbhanga donated Rs. 20,000/- in June 1912. His successor Maharaj Kameshwar Singh (1907-62) donated a further Rs 50,000/-. He gave the money for the establishment of a Medical College.
His Highness the Maharaja of Vizianagaram, K.C.S.I also donated. Shambhu Narayan, Raja of Benares donated Rs 60. There were many many more.
Evidence of Sir Syed asking for donations exist not only in the form of cartoons lampooning him, but also via a large number of epigraphs: inscribed stones giving the names of the donors!
A Cartoon in Awadh Panch, 1881
I reproduce here some of the names of Hindu donors who gave money for the establishment of the M.A.O. College. Let us decide who amongst them deserves to be the one on whose name the University be renamed. Some of the representative names of non-Muslim donors whose plaques inscribed in Persian script on stone slabs adorn various buildings of the University (Stratchey Hall, Nizam Museum, Victoria Gate etc) are:
Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) at Shimla has at least two photographs of Jinnah on its walls.
Incidentally the Institute comes under the Central Government and is located in a State frequently ruled by BJP!
The Indian Institute of Advanced Studies (IIAS) website also mentions Jinnah in connection with the Shimla Conference of June 1945, held at the Viceregal Lodge to discuss India’s progress towards full self-governance. As per the website:
“From 25 June to 14 July 1945 the conference was held at the lodge. A wide spectrum of Indian political leadership was present – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Liaqat Ali Khan, Bhulabhai Desai, Master Tara Singh and Mohammed Ali Jinnah…”.
Is it an anti-National Institution? It’s management too should be hauled on coals as is being done in the case of AMU!
The Students Union, AMU granted Life Membership to Jinnah in 1938, a period when Mr Jinnah was a leader of the Congress party, thus along with photographs of other Life Members, his too adorn the walls of the Union Hall. He was invited as a nationalist leader who was participating in the National Movement. The Lahore Resolution (seeking Pakistan in 1940) had not come by then.It was still two years in future!
There were two aspects to Jinnah: one was Partition and the other was opposition to British rule from the time of Gopalkrishna Gokhale. Very few people know that he was the defence counsel of Bal Gangadhar Tilak (in a sedition case) and won him the case against the British government in 1916. It’s a part of our history. Even if somebody wants to be rowdy about it, history can’t be changed. In fact, Bhagat Singh should be a national hero for Pakistan as much as he is for us.
His portrait at Aligarh represents that period and is a reminder of the time when Jinnah was fighting for the Nation, not a particular community.
Jinnah also was historically related with the IIAS, and thus his photographs are there too.
In both the places his photos are there as he is part of the history of this nation and it’s National Movement, unlike, say, VD Savarkar who collaborated with those who enslaved the nation!
And remember history can never be wished away!
Jinnah’s images are there in IIAS, Shimla, Students Union Hall, AMU and other myriad of places in India not because these places believe in him, but as an example of one who was once one of us, but stands rejected! History remembers both heroes and anti-heroes, the villains!
We as a nation rejected Jinnah and his divisive philosophy when we decided to stay put in India and constructed a Sovereign Democratic Republic that is India!
According to Telegraph (8 May 2018) and its Basant Kumar Mohanty, Professor Bhalchandra Mungekar, who was IIAS chairperson from 2007 to 2012, defended the website’s reference to Jinnah and the display of his picture at the AMU students’ union office. He is cited as saying:
“Jinnah was born in undivided India. The Viceregal Lodge witnessed discussions on the transfer of power, and Jinnah was present. It’s fine to mention him.”
He further reportedly said that the protests against the AMU portrait were driven by “divisive politics”:
“If Jinnah’s portrait had not bothered anyone from the time of the Partition in 1947 till today, why should it be an issue now?” said Mungekar, former vice-chancellor of Mumbai University (earlier Bombay University, from which Jinnah had earned his matriculation).
“It’s a pretext to arouse communal passions and seek political polarisation solely from the point of view of elections. All Sangh parivar affiliates should desist from politics in the nation’s long-term interest.”
Since a few days past AMU has been in the centre of a controversy: Is AMU a mini-Pakistan, with its students anti nationals and followers of Muhammad Ali Jinnah? If not so why do they still have a portrait of Jinnah adorning a wall of a building on the campus? If the Aligarians are not anti nationals, why are they not removing the portrait of the man who tore the country into two on the basis of religion?
On a day when Hamid Ansari Sahib, the former Vice President of our country was in the University and a function of the AMU Students Union was to take place to confer upon him the Life Membership of the Union, a handful of RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal goon, bearing pistols and sticks, and escorted by a number of policemen entered the University Gate and moved towards the Guest house where the former VP was sitting. They were confronted by the handful of AMU “bulls”. Surprising there was no security arrangements for a former VP and the goons were allowed to come precariously close to him! But for the skeletal AMU stick wielding half famished security none blocked their path! The bulls closed the gate and caught a few goons.
Unfortunately they were handed over to the district police who immediately released them, in spite of their reported provocative and communally loaded slogans and allegations of firing katta. The police apparently believed that there was no case against them!
As news spread like wild fire, the students rushed to Bāb-i Saiyid and a protest started. They wanted the police to catch the culprits. As they came out of the University gate and tried to march towards the police station, the police who till yet had been mute spectators started blowing lathis on the unarmed protesters! The irony was very apparent: release those wielding and firing and brandishing lāthis, and brutally attack those who would protest against this goondaism! Dozens were injured! They took care to ensure that almost the entire leadership of the AMUSU be brutally beaten up. The President, the former President, the Secretary and dozens of others were severely injured!
By late evening the goons were successful in accomplishing their nefarious agenda! Almost all TV channels were talking of Jinnah’s image in the Building of the Union Hall. None referred to the fact that the attack was in fact against the former VP and an attempt to malign a Central University!
None also paused to mention that the Students Union Building was in fact a semi-independent entity: It originally was a Debating Club, The Siddon’s Club, which like clubs in Oxford and Cambridge was a place for serious debates and deliberations. After the M.A.O. College became a University by an Act of Parliament in 1920, it was converted into a building of the Students Union. Starting with Mahatma Gandhi to a number of Noble Laureate, as well as politicians, scientists, and social scientists were conferred Life Memberships. Jinnah was one of them. He was conferred this honour in 1938 when he came for the first time to AMU. He came as a leader of the Congress.
He was with Motilal Nehru and was known for his secular views. According to Gandhiji he was the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity! It was a time when Veer Savarkar and Golwalkar were talking about separate representations to Muslims. Muslims, according to Savarkar were to be thrown out of India! Jinnah when he walked in to accept the award of Life Membership of AMUSU, was talking of a throwing out of the foreign yoke, who were being felicitated by Hindu Maha Sabha!
VD Savarkar had proposed the two-nation theory in 1937 three years before Jinnah did so in 1940. Further, Hindu Mahasabha ran coalition governments with the Muslim League in 1942 in Bengal, Sindh & NWFP.
The photograph of Jinnah which hangs in the Students Union Hall is of Jinnah the Congressman and the tormentor of the British! It has been there since 1938!
Further, the building that houses it is a repository of all the relics and artefacts related with the history of the Students Union. It is a sort of a Museum which contains the portraits of those given Life Membership starting with Gandhiji. It is also the repository of all the documents related with the Union. It since it’s inception is a restricted place with entry allowed only to bonafide members!
One should also point out that it is not the only place where something related with Jinnah is preserved in India. There is no Museum in India dedicated to National Freedom Struggle which doesn’t have one! And why should it not be there? He is a part of our history; and history can not be wished away! Like our parentage we cannot change it! Like it or hate it, it is our past!
And let us not forget: those who believed in the two-nation theory of Jinnah migrated to Pakistan long ago. Those who remained back are those who rejected his nefarious ideas!
Unfortunately those who believed in the two-nation theory of Savarkar and Golwalkar, still shout the slogan of “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan” and are ruling over our country and maligning Jawaharlal Nehru who had opposed Jinnah and his divisive ideas!
However whatever happened in the past one week had some positive after effects as well! I will highlight two:
a) The events united Aligarh as never before; and
b) Aligarh leapfrogged towards gender equality and women’s emancipation
Today we find all concerned interests and parties on one platform: there is hardly any dissenting voice, from retired teachers, to those in service, to researchers to students and the Alumni: all stand steadfast behind the fair name of alma mater! In spite of the media hunting desperately for a contrary viewpoint, all are condemning the fascist forces, condemning Jinnah but all appear to firmly with the University and the concept of freedom of expression!
As Gandhiji, or Lohiaji, or Jai Prakash Narayan ji, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is also a recipient of Honorary Life Membership of the Students Union. None of them can be wished away! Their ideologies have nothing to do with their portraits hung here!
The second positive development has been that for the first time in the entire history of the University, the girls participated at equal footing as the boys! Since day one they have been shoulder to shoulder with the boys! Although gates were closed for them, they came out in large numbers.
Hope this continues even after this particular episode is over!
In the end please hear this appeal of Faizan Mustafa, VC NALSAR (former Registrar, AMU) in full:
ASHA: Blast From The Past 