A group of prominent alumni of the Aligarh Muslim University including former leaders of the teachers Association (AMUTA) have voiced their support for the beleaguered UP Cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan.
In a written statement to the Election Commission, they urged EC to revoke the ban imposed upon Khan, who is also an AMU alumnus, preventing him for participating in the election campaigning.
The signatories include former presidents of AMUTA Qaiser Naqvi and Mohammad Ajmal, former Dean of Faculty of Law Akhlaq Ahmad and former Dean of faculty of Medicine Mohammad Ahmad. "Any punishment for violating law should be commensurate with the level of purported crime. Azam's choice of words can be objectionable but the spirit behind his exhortations cannot be condemned because all that he wanted to stress was that Muslims are second to none when it comes to the defence of the country," former secretary of AMUTA Prof Ziauddin Ahmad said.
"We strongly oppose any sort of hate mongering because it is anti-national but what Azam said cannot be labelled as hate mongering," he said.
"In stark contrast to this," Ahmad added, "we are watching with alarm when hate speeches are being delivered in front of the BJP's PM candidate and these are being treated just as minor violations when in fact they should be treated as incendiary remarks of the worse type."
On April 11, the EC had barred both Azam Khan and Amit Shah from holding public meetings, processions or roadshows in UP and had asked the authorities to initiate criminal proceedings against them.
However, on April 17 it revoked the ban on shah after he assured the poll body that he would not disturb the public tranquility and law and order.
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