At least five student organisations of Jamia Millia Islamia condemned the Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion (CSSI) for what they described as a “grave betrayal” in inviting Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to speak on its stage, and called for a campus-wide boycott of the programme.
Calling the move a political endorsement disguised as academic engagement, the groups said the invitation “insults every community the Centre claims to represent,” especially Dalits and religious minorities.
In a joint statement, All India Students’ Association (AISA), CRJD, the Dayar I Shauq Students’ Charter(DISSC), the Fraternity Movement, and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), criticised the decision as “hypocritical,” noting that CSSI at Jamia teaches courses on Dalit mobilisation, minority politics and Muslim identity, yet chose to platform a figure “who has consistently aligned himself with Hindutva politics.”
They highlighted Khan’s repeated defence of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and his support for amendments to Waqf laws, describing both as attacks on minority rights.
The groups recalled Khan’s remarks at the 2019 Indian History Congress, where he justified the CAA and targeted protestors by misquoting Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
According to the statement, Khan had described Partition as a moment that “took away the dirt and left the dirty water behind”, language the groups said was meant to demean dissenting citizens. “
“This is the man CSSI has chosen to legitimize,” the statement read, calling his record one of confrontation with student protest and alignment with the ruling regime.
They accused CSSI faculty of abandoning their own stated principles, “Professors who lecture on exclusion, discrimination and majoritarianism in classrooms are now opening their doors to its representatives,” the groups said, adding that this was “hypocrisy of the highest order.”
They argued that inviting Khan under the banner of academic dialogue turned the Centre into “a gateway for Hindutva to enter Jamia.”
They also criticised the timing of the event, which is being held on Constitution Day.
Calling it “ironic and shameful,” the groups said using a day dedicated to India’s secular and democratic Constitution to honour someone who has defended exclusionary citizenship laws shows “not only academic hypocrisy but deep disrespect for constitutional values.”
According to the statement, “A Centre built to study social inclusion is now lending its platform to someone who justifies exclusion. A Centre that claims to critique majoritarianism is busy normalising it. A Centre that claims to speak truth to power is now hosting power itself to silence truth.”
The groups said this was “not an invitation, but a stain on the academic integrity of those organising it.”
Declaring that they “refuse to legitimise this betrayal,” the student organisations of Jamia called for a campus-wide boycott of the programme.
They urged students to “reject this farce of academic neutrality” and to gather in peaceful but firm resistance on the day of the event.
“On the day of the event, students must rise in peaceful but powerful resistance.This parcha is a reminder that academic institutions cannot claim to teach justice while practising surrender,” read the statements.
Critics say Arif Mohammad Khan’s deepening entwinement with Hindutva ideology is evident in his fervent defence of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which he frames as a fulfilment of Nehru and Gandhi’s promises to Pakistani minorities.
His inflammatory remarks at forums such as the 80th Indian History Congress, where his speech triggered protests and slogans; and his recurring confrontations with Kerala’s Left government over university autonomy and media access. Many argue that this pattern represents a stark betrayal of constitutional impartiality and has effectively turned the Raj Bhavan under his leadership into a BJP-aligned outpost pushing Islamophobic agendas at odds with India’s secular fabric.
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