PM Modi to virtually attend AMU's centenary celebrations

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 22, the first participation by a prime minister at a varsity event in 56 years.

During the event, the prime minister will also release a postal stamp, a PMO statement said.

In 1964, then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had attended an event at AMU.

AMU chancellor Syedna Mufaddal Saifudin and Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank will also attend the celebrations through video conferencing.

“AMU became a University in 1920, through an Act of Indian Legislative Council by elevating the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental (MAO) College to the status of a Central University. MAO College was set up in 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan,” the PMO release stated.

AMU has been the hub of protests against the Modi government over issues such as the reading down of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

More recently, students of the varsity have also declared support to ongoing farmers' protests on the borders of the national capital.

Earlier, Modi had participated in a function at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, which had emerged as the epicentre of protests against the BJP government.

Modi had told the students of the university to keep national interest above ideologies and not accept status quo without a debate.