A member of the All India Muslim personal law board (AIMPLB) has come in the support of hanging Jinnah’s portrait inside the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus, as per a Navbharat Times report.
Zafaryab Jilani who is a member of the AIMPLB as well as the convener of Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC), has been quoted as saying that Jinnah’s portrait cannot be removed owing to him being one of the founding members of the university. He contended that the portrait has been hanging on the University’s wall for the past 80 years, while further pushing for its retention.
A New Indian Express report quotes him as saying that, a political controversy has been created over this issue, owing to the upcoming Karnataka polls. This statement comes at a time when the University students are on an indefinite protest, which has resulted in the final exams getting deferred till 12 May. The University’s Vice Chancellor, all this while has been urging the students to restore normalcy in the campus.
As per a Patrika report, Jilani didn’t stop at supporting Jinnah’s portrait but even commented on the Triple Talaq issue. Jilani has been quoted as saying that if Rajya Sabha passes the Triple Talaq bill in its current form, then the AIMPLB would appeal against it in the Supreme Court.
Such a stance by Jilani might trigger a bit of a clash within the personal law board, as one of its other members named Maulana Khalid Rashid Phirangi Mahli asserted on Saturday that Jinnah’s portrait needed to be removed from the University. He also claimed that the Indian Muslims had nothing to do with Jinnah.
This opinion has been echoed by the senior mufti of the Dargah-e-Ala Hazrat in Bareilly, who has issued a Fatwa urging Indian Muslims not to support Jinnah while asking them to remove all the pictures and portraits of the Muslim League’s co-founder.
