The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) administration had announced that the varsity would open in phases and that the first phase would begin on January 13. However, students have not budged from their protest. Since the attack on the campus, the students have sat on a silent protest. Today is the twenty-ninth day of the silent protest.
The students of Aligarh Muslim University were probably the first campus to start protesting against the Citizenship Bill even before it became an Act. For a month now, the students have been consistently gathering at the iconic Bab-e-Syed to continue their protests. Despite the fact that several students suffered life-altering injuries and mental trauma, the students have been raging on against the Act.
Even on January 12, the students took out a march from the University's Mass Communication department to Bab-e-Syed. The students have also been demanding that the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar resign from their posts for allowing the police to come inside campus and attacking the students last month.
The students have refused to give up on the struggle till the Act is repealed. The students have also been repeatedly demanding the resignation of the VC and the registrar. However, the administration has said that they would be reopening the University in phases, starting today - faculties of medicine, unani medicine, management studies and the Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology will open first. The faculties of law, commerce, science, life sciences and agricultural sciences will open in the second phase on January 20 and next, the faculties of arts, social sciences, international studies and theology, Polytechnics and the Community College will resume classes
Yesterday, the students were addressed by Medha Patkar, "In the evening, students were addressed by activist Medha Patkar and journalists Arfa Khanum Sherwani and Aditya Menon. Emphasising the critical role Muslims have to play in the ongoing agitation, Patkar said, “All of us are ready to work under the leadership of Muslims”. She also praised the women of Shaheen Bagh for their undeterred courage and said that their involvement is indication that “this is not merely a movement but a new vision.”
In a statement, the students condemned the action of the Karnataka Police who detained two students of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) for several hours for protesting against CAA and NRC.
"We stand in solidarity with the protesters throughout the country, who, despite barbaric repression by the government administration have held on to the protests, sending a strong message to the state that all its decisions won’t be accepted. We call upon all the student bodies and civil society groups to work together in a coordinated manner along with maintaining its original character of Muslim identity assertion," they wrote.
