Recently, a scholar of Aligarh Muslim University, Danish Rahim, has alleged that he has been denied PhD degree for praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the university has later denied the claims, it must be mentioned that AMU has a history of being in the headlines for controversial reasons.
In 2019, a student named Thakur Ajay Singh was suspended from the University for organizing a Tiranga rally and opposing the visit of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. Later in 2021, he was rusticated from the University.
Speaking to OpIndia, Singh said that on February 12, 2019, videos emerged on the social media platform of the scuffle that took place at AMU. In the incident, Singh, who was 24-year-old at that time, was injured. Singh is the grandson of Thakur Dalveer Singh, BJP MLA from Aligarh’s Barauli constituency. The scuffle took place between two student groups as Singh, and his supporters had organized a protest against the scheduled visit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi.
Singh said that the students’ union at the University had invited Owaisi and other Muslim parties to form Muslim support base for the Lok Sabha polls. Singh said they were against Owaisi as he had protected his brother after he openly called for violence against Hindus. “The idea of a Muslim front itself is a ploy to divide Indians,” Singh said.
Though Owaisi did not come to the campus, 15-16 parties sent their representatives for a closed-door meeting. That day, a B-Tech student Manish Kumar was thrashed by some students in the hostel, after which Singh and others came back to the University. In their complaint to the proctor, they alleged that Manish was attacked for participating in a protest against Owaisi and demanded action against the students of a particular community who were involved in the attack.
The proctor refused to involve Police in the matter. Singh alleged that the Muslim students had threatened him and challenged him to try whatever he could. His group sat in a protest against the inaction of the proctor. Within a few minutes, a crowd rushed out of the meeting hall and attacked the bikes of the protesters that were parked at the administrative block. Singh told OpIndia that the attackers specifically attacked the bikes that belonged to Hindu students. “It seemed like they were checking the ownership at the RTO’s website or app and finding which bike belonged to a Hindu student,” he said.
Singh said that he was unrecognizable that day as he had shaved his beard, which he had kept for long while attending the University. He said, “I usually sport a long beard. But I had shaved my hair and beard a few days ago because my grandmother passed away. So it’s possible that the crowd did not recognize me. Otherwise, they could have killed me.”
The other group had accused Singh and his supporters of carrying weapons inside the campus. However, Singh denied the claims and said, “not weapons, we were armed only with courage.”
A total of eight students, four Hindus and four Muslims, were suspended after the incident. Ajay Singh, Manish Kumar, Aman Sharma and Pavan Jadon were among those eight. On the next day, AMUSU held a protest and demanded the suspension of four Muslim students to be taken back. They also demanded to rusticate the Hindu students.
While speaking to OpIndia, Singh said he first took admission to Class 11 in 2011. In 2013, he was admitted to the graduation program. During that time, he noticed non-Muslim students would get trashed very often but got no protection from the administration. He said, “The feeling of being alienated combined with the experience of the 2017 polls convinced me that there was a huge need for dissent.”
In 2018, he and his supporters held a rally against the murder of Chandan Gupta, a Hindu boy who was killed by a mob during a Tiranga Yatra in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh. The rally was stopped by the administration. A month later, they held a protest demanding justice for Geeta (name changed), a minor Hindu girl who was raped at a mosque in Delhi. The protest was against suppressed by the administration.
हमारी 15 मिनट की तिरंगा यात्रा से तो कैंपस में माहौल खराब हो रहा था, अब अपने द्वारा किये गए आपराधिक कृत्य और मॉब लॉन्चिंग की कोशिश के कैमरे में कैद होने पर कानूनी कार्यवाही के डर से कैंपस बंद रखने की अपीलें की जा रही हैं….सलाम करता हूँ इस दोगली मानसिकता को. #AMU pic.twitter.com/OC07D4lcMr
— THAKUR AJAY SINGH (@AjaySinghAMU) February 16, 2019
Singh said there were several other incidents like an attempt to celebrate Holi and pay homage to former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the campus that led to the attack on him in 2019.
Notably, the suspension orders against seven out of eight students were revoked by the committee that was formed to look into the violence that took place on February 12, 2019. Singh was the only student who was not allowed to join back the classes. He appealed against the ruling and also filed a case in the High Court.
In December 2020, Singh appealed in front of the review committee. He was asked to appear before the Discipline Committee in March 2021. In the rustication letter issued by the University, it was mentioned that Singh showed remorse for whatever happened in February 2019 and promised such incidents would not happen again.
Though the committee was ordered to declare the results of the LLM examination for which Singh had appeared, it did not allow Singh to take up any other course in the University. The notice said, “My Ajay Singh, the aforementioned student we hereby debarred for further study in any course/class in the University in future.”
Singh told OpIndia that he wanted to appeal against the decision in the court but could not because of some family emergency. He is, however, planning to approach the High Court soon.
