'Bhakts must be confused today', social media users react after Modi called AMU 'mini-India'
text_fields
PM Narendra Modi, on 22 December, addressed the students and staff on Aligarh Muslim University on its centenary celebrations. He called the university 'mini-India' and said that the government is working for the empowerment of people, without any discrimination.
From saying 'Bhakts must be confused' to criticising the government's role during the anti-CAA protests, social media was quick to react.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani, an award winning journalist, and a senior editor of The Wire said that PM Modi's calling AMU a 'mini-India' has left 'Bhakts' confused, as they were taught to adress the university as 'mini-Pakistan'.
Faisal Nadeem, an activist and an alumus of the university took to Twitter and posted a picture of police beating Muslim women during the anti-CAA protests and wrote " Government Focused on Education and Empowerment of Muslim Daughters."
Was Modi trolling Yogi Andityanath? wrote Agnivo Niyogi.
While reacting to visuals of police deployment during Modi's online address, posted by Times of India Journalist, Anuja Jaiswal, a user on Twitter wrote "Such deployment for a Virtual Address? This is the 56 inch man?"
Modi calling AMU 'mini-India' should worry all Indians, said Abhijit Iyer-Mitra in a tweet.
Some other users called Modi's 'mini-India' remark 'senility' and 'hunger for votes'.
A student of the Aligarh Muslim University called Modi's speech 'pure dealing', a word often used as a synonym for verbosity in Aligarh.
Meanwhile, some welcomed Modi's speech at the University and called it a 'genuine reach out'.
Modi's address at the university was welcomed by the Aligarh Muslim University Teacher's Association and a number of activists, however, it faced resistance from alumni groups and students' organizations in campus. AMU alumni association, Italy expressed its 'utmost displeasure' and condemned the move. Students Islamic Organization (SIO), AMU also condemned the move and said that the organization had 'profound disagreements with Narendra Modi's idea of India and the 'Hindutva' ideology which he represents.
On December 22, Modi became the first Indian prime minister to address the university in the last 56 years.