UP: Aligarh Muslim University Students Protest Against Citizenship Bill

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in the wee hours of Tuesday, December 10, which seeks to provide citizenship to the persecuted minorities in the neighboring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. While it has included the Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Parsis, it has ignored the Muslim community, which includes the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the Tamilians from Sri Lanka and Tibetans in China.

The controversial provisions have caused an uproar across the nation. The northeastern states have gone on massive protests. Aligarh Muslim University also joined by staging a huge protest meeting against the bill.

Protest And Hunger Strike

A student body meeting was held on the campus of Aligarh Muslim University on Tuesday evening where a resolution was passed to go on protest at the Bab-e-Syed Gate in the university. Many students joined in and raised slogans against the legislation.

Girls in the Abdullah Hall hostel also raised their voices against the bill.

A 24-hour hunger strike has been proposed in the resolution.

With students on a hunger strike, dining halls in various hostels of the university are empty and will remain so for the next 24 hours.

“We are protesting against the unconstitutional bill which was passed in the Lok Sabha – it is against the secularism our constitution talks about. It is time for the country to come out and protest against this injustice to our community,” law student Ahmed Mujtaba Faraz told The Logical Indian.

The students also plan to go to Delhi and protest in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan when the bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha.

“Teachers Threatened The Students”

Earlier this month, the Aligarh Muslim University Teachers Association had rejected the proposals of the NRC and the amendment bill.

However, they later tried to prevent the students from attending the protests.

Mechanical Engineering student Mutayyib Khan, 20, said, “Many students were not allowed to attend the protest. Teachers threatened the students saying that they will fail them in exams if they attended any such event.”

The students then passed a show cause notice asking the association to take a strong stand against the bill, failing to do which will result in a boycott by the students.

The notice stated, “If the grown-ups of the community fail to realize their responsibility to stand against this Islamophobic bill and instead find shortcuts to live one more day, behold yourself it will come back to bite you and your children.”

The students are holding the faculty accountable for not taking a firm stand and a 24-hour ultimatum has been given to the teachers to take part in the protests.

The AMU Teachers’ Association remained unavailable for a comment.

Also Read: Explained: How New Citizenship Bill Will Pave Way For ‘Hindutva Version Of Pakistan’ In India