An Aligarh Civil Court advocate has sent a notice to Marxist historian Irfan Habib for allegedly taking a swipe at PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a speech at Aligarh Muslim University. The remarks came in the aftermath of the controversy surrounding the new Citizenship Amendment Act, that came into force last week.
Advocate Sandeep Kumar Gupta, who sent a notice to Habib has asserted that the speech delivered by the left-leaning historian at the Aligarh Muslim University on Monday was “against the unity and diversity of India and it also challenges the sovereignty of the country”.
Gupta accused Habib of asking Union Home Minister Amit Shah to get rid of his surname “Shah” in his speech citing the name’s alleged Persian origins. Kumar also stated in the notice that Habib said in Aligarh Muslim University that RSS was formed with the aim to attack Muslims and that the Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar was responsible for the partition of the country, extenuating Mohammad Ali Jinnah who propounded the two-nation theory. The notice also mentioned Habib criticising the use of Gandhi’s spectacles in government’s “Swwacchta Abhiyan”.
Habib had also said that there is strong circumstantial evidence that Savarkar was involved in murder of Mahatma Gandhi, and referred to PM Modi as ‘Jahil’.
#Breaking | SHOCKER: Eminent historian Irfan Habib takes a jibe at PM Modi and HM Amit Shah; calls PM a ‘jahil’ and says HM should change his name as Shah is a Persian name.
TIMES NOW’s Mohit Bhatt with details. pic.twitter.com/wI0LfGtKnO
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) January 13, 2020
The advocate, in the notice, also took cognisance of Habib’s “poisonous statements” in various newspapers against the current dispensation. Demanding Habib’s apology within the next 7 days, the notice read that if he failed in doing so, the advocate will initiate strict legal action against him.
Ever since the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, that grants citizenship to the persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, Marxist historian Irfan Habib is having a hard time coming to terms with the new reality.
Earlier, Habib had heckled Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and physically disrupted his speech while he was speaking in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The incident happened at the inaugural meeting of the 80th session of the Indian History Congress held at Kannur University in Kerala when Khan was dispelling the apprehensions surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act.
