Taking a stance against the violence on the university campus, students of Aligarh Muslim University, in northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, have expelled the vice-chancellor and registrar of the institution.
In a letter addressed to the vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor and registrar Abdul Hamid, the office of the students at the university has made the notice public.
The notice is collectively signed by the students of the Aligarh Muslim University, the teachers and the non-teaching staff of the university.
What stops the students of Aligarh Muslim University from expelling UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi or even President Ram Nath Kovind? https://t.co/s5AYPhXoHJ
— Kumar Shakti Shekhar (@ShaktiShekhar) December 22, 2019
If the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar do not vacate their places on or before the said date, the students, teachers and the non-teaching staff would boycott the university administration until they resign and vacate their places, reads the notice.
The students have also closed down all activity in the university until the vice-chancellor and the Registrar resigns.
Along with the Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh had also faced violence on 15 December. As many as 21 people were arrested after the night of violence on the campus.
Like other parts of the country, students at the prestigious university were also protesting against the Citizenship Act but the agitation escalated after news of the violence against the students of Jamia reached them.
The students clashed with police after they were refused permission to hold a solidarity march for their counterparts in Delhi. They broke the police cordon, and the police alleged that they were pelted with rocks.
The new Citizenship Amendment Act grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and arrived before 31 December 2014. The legislation came under fire for what the protesters described as violation of the Indian constitution by mandating citizenship on the basis of religion, as it excludes Muslims.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reassured the public that the law doesn't "affect any citizen of India of any religion", and that "no Indian has anything to worry" about.
