NEW DELHI – UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya clearly said thatthere was no place for Jinnah in India as that man was responsible for thepartition of India.

Incensed over the issue, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activists burned aneffigy of Jinnah in Aligarh’s Ram Lila grounds. VHP’s Raj Kumar Arya saidthat it was an anti-national act of AMU to honour a nation-breaker likeJinnah.

Bajrang Dal’s Gaurav Sharma said that if the AMU wanted to put up picturesof famous Muslims, they should put up portraits of patriots like AbdulHamid and APJ Abdul Kalam.

If portraits of anti-national elements are put up in the university, onlyterrorists like Mannan Bashir Wani will be created there. Rajya Sabhamember Harnath Singh Yadav asserted that the BJP will not allow AMU tobecome a nest of anti-national elements.

However, taking a tough stand on this issue, AMU students’ union presidentMashqoor Ahmed Usmani said that the Jinnah portraits will remain in thestudents’ union hall, no matter how much the politicians ask for itsremoval.

A major clash was averted at the gates of AMU by the security agencies,when Hindu nationalists, armed with sticks and other blunt weapons marchedtowards the university and tried to force their way inside.

Stick-wielding AMU students stopped the marchers. Taking quick action,security agencies separated the two groups, while Hamid Ansari’s programmewas cancelled.

Following the barely averted clash Atul Srivastava, superintendent ofpolice (Aligarh city) said that tension continues inside and around theuniversity campus and police personnel have been deployed at the university.

Hindustani Biradari vice-chairman Vishal Sharma said that Jinnah may be aformer alumnus of the AMU, but he could not be the role-model of IndianMuslims.

However, he said that the AMU students’ union hall was not a governmentbuilding and there were portraits of other former students hanging in thehall too.