iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for its diversity and said that the campus of the varsity is like a ‘mini-India’ with thousands of teachers, professors and dozens of hostels and departments.
AMU is one of the top universities in India ranking in the top 20 consistently, and currently holding the 17th position as per e National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2020 and ranked 801–1000 in the QS World University Rankings of 2021.
In its alumni list, it holds some of the most notable academicians, literary figures, politicians, jurists, lawyers, sportsperson the country has ever produced.
Asserting that diversity seen in the university is the strength of the entire nation, the prime minister said that those spreading negativity can be seen everywhere.
Modi’s remarks came during his address at the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University via video conferencing held past month. He also released a special postal stamp to mark the celebrations of the AMU.
It was the first time in the history of five decades when a prime minister was attending an event of the university as a chief guest.
The last prime minister to attend any such event at AMU was Lal Bahadur Shastri in the year 1964. Earlier to him, Jawaharlal Nehru had visited the campus four times as a prime minister.
In his address, the prime minister said that people should neither forget this power of diversity nor should they allow it to weaken. “The spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’ should be made stronger in the university campus.”
Talking about Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said that it is common ground that we need to build a new India.
“India is now moving forward on the path where each and every citizen will be entitled to get the benefits of development without and discrimination. Every person of this country should be rest assured about their constitutional rights,” PM Modi said.
“No citizen would be left behind because of their religion and all must get equal opportunities to fulfill his or her dreams. The mantra behind it is ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’,” he said.
PM Modi also praised the university for the way it helped the society during the coronavirus pandemic. “From conducting free COVID-19 tests to making isolation wards for people tested positive with coronavirus, it shows AMU’s seriousness towards fulfilling obligations towards the society,” he said.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi released a postal stamp as part of the centenary celebrations of AMU. This is the first time PM Modi is participating in a program of the Aligarh Muslim University.
The university was established as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, starting functioning on 24 May 1875. The then principal of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental college, Theodore Morrison once mentioned that he envisioned Aligarh to be such a home of learning as to command the same respect as scholars of Berlin and Oxford, Leipsic and Paris.
AMU offered a confluence of the best of the East and the West. Top Islamic scholars such as Maulana Altaf Husain Hali, Muhsin al-Mulk and Allama Shibli Numani and scholars from Oxford and Cambridge such as T Beck, Morison and Arnold taught students, many while living on campus. The university created an atmosphere that was unique not only in India but across the so-called Muslim world.
Despite being a Muslim project single-handedly built by Syed Ahmad Khan, AMU was open for all rght from the first day.
