NEW DELHI: The Jammu and Kashmir Students' Association (JKSA) has demanded the removal of Uttar Pradesh Minister Thakur Raghuraj Singh from the state cabinet and an FIR against him over remarks on Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamia Millia Islamia as "hubs of terrorists".
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, in a statement on November 11, called the remarks communal and said singling out universities by name and identity amounted to an attempt to communalise education. It said such statements stigmatise students and risk creating fear and hostility on campuses.
"Elected representatives holding constitutional positions should be held accountable for statements that could stigmatise educational institutions and students," the association's National Convenor, Nasir Khuehami said to the media.
He added that instead of addressing problems in the education sector, an elected representative was "demonising universities, branding their students as potential terrorists" and threatening to shut institutions because of their names. Diminishing the legacy of an institution based on it's religious identity or stating them as centres of terrorism was an insult to their students, teachers and scholars.
The association said both universities had made substantial contributions to Indian education and scholarship.
The minister has not responded publicly to the demand. It could not be independently confirmed from the record available here what exactly he said, and in what setting; the description of the remarks in this report is the students' body's account.
(With inputs from media reports)