The Aligarh Muslim University fraternity has accused the Election Commission of discrimination in lifting the ban on Amit Shah, but continuing with the prohibition of Azam Khan for making inflammatory speeches. The move will send out a wrong message and further alienate the Muslim community, AMU members said. Asmer Beg, a political science professor at AMU, said such political issues cannot be dealt with in a “technical manner”.
AMU Teachers’ Association secretary Aftab Alam also expressed shock at the decision. “The offence is of the same nature, it is unfortunate that the EC has passed such a biased judgement. How can they be sure that Shah will be not further polarise the situation in western Uttar Pradesh? The region has been reeling under the after-effects of the Muzaffarnagar riots.” he said.