In the midst of the heated debate over the demand of constructing “Ram Mandir” in Ayodhya, we are now witnessing a fresh demand over the construction of Saraswati temple within the campus of Aligarh Muslim University.
A student of AMU has written a letter to the VC demanding the construction of Saraswati temple in the campus. Ajay Singh (grandson of Aligarh BJP MLA) said that “the construction of the temple would send a message that AMU stands for unity and secularism.”
He further stated that there was no better tribute to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s idea of Hindu-Muslim unity and the idea of a cosmopolitan India than this.
“There are at least 6,000 Hindu students in the university, but there is not a single temple, while there are mosques in almost every hostel. What kind of secularism is this?” he said.
“I want to ask this question to all the secular people, to the Congress as well, who preach these talks but have never talked about a temple in AMU. The university’s secularity will only be accepted when there are temples, mosques, gurdwaras, etc, side-by-side,” he added.
Former student union president Faizul Khan quoted a 2015 Supreme Court’s verdict, which barred the construction or demolition of any religious building in central universities or educational institutions. He further said that because of the court’s verdict the temple cannot be constructed inside the campus even if the demand is backed by the top notches or even the whole university.
