Agra: Months after a portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah at the students’ union office of Aligarh Muslim University caused a major row, pictures of Pakistan’s founder with Mahatma Gandhi have now been put on display at an exhibition in the varsity’s Maulana Azad Library. The exhibition, at the library's central hall, is part of the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.When asked, the university administration said they were not aware of Jinnah’s pictures with Gandhi among exhibits in the library. Interestingly, the exhibition was inaugurated by AMU pro vice-chancellor Mohammad Hanif Beg on October 2.University spokesperson Shafey Kidwai said that the AMU administration was not aware of such pictures, which were quietly removed soon afterwards.By late evening, the varsity administration had issued a show-cause notice to librarian Amzad Ali.Aligarh’s BJP MP Satish Gautam, who had earlier questioned the presence of a portrait of Jinnah in the university students’ union office, said, “We cannot tolerate Jinnah’s pictures with Mahatma Gandhi as Jinnah was responsible for the partition of India.” He said that he had tried to contact vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor, but he was out of country.Former Aligarh mayor and BJP leader Shakuntala Bharti said, “Were they celebrating Gandhi Jayanti or Jinnah Jayanti? This is an educational institute and they should not disgrace it with their actions. If they want to display Jinnah pictures, they should go to Pakistan.”Manvendra Pratap Singh, a member of the national minority education monitoring committee, questioned why the “jinn of Jinnah” (ghost of Jinnah) keeps haunting the varsity.“Many respectable personalities were associated with Gandhi Ji then why only Jinnah’s pictures with him were displayed,” he asked.In May this year, violence was reported on the AMU campus after right-wing activists clashed with students over Jinnah’s portrait at students’ union office. Almost half a dozen persons were injured when police lobbed tear-gas shells to disperse students demanding the arrest of the protesters who allegedly tried to force their way into the campus. Right-wing activists also burnt effigies of Jinnah near the campus gate.

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