New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday appointed former Aligarh Muslim University vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor as one of its vice presidents.
The report quoted an RSS functionary as saying that Mansoor had impressed the Sangh’s leadership with his work on the Dara Shikoh project, by effectively using the AMU’s Persian department to translate much of Shikoh’s work on inter-faith dialogue and project him as an ideal for the Muslim community. He organised seminars and conferences on the same.
Mansoor, a surgeon, has been associated with AMU since the 1970s when he completed his MBBS degree in surgery from the university’s JN Medical College. He then went on to do his Master of Surgery (MS) degree in 1982 from the same college.
Jamal Siddiqui, head of the BJP’s Minority Morcha said Mansoor was a “nationalist Muslim” who has always promoted the ideal of “nation first.” “His understanding of the fault lines in the Muslim community is as deep as his knowledge about the country and its history. He has led the students of AMU on the right path and prevented them from being misled. His appointment will help the party to expand better.”
He is the fourth person from the Muslim community to be promoted to the Legislative Council by the party in UP since 2017, after Bukkal Nawab, Mohsin Raza, and Danish Azad Ansari, the report added.
Notably, Mansoor was the AMU Vice Chancellor when it witnessed protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2020. He was then criticised for “not standing up for students” when policemen allegedly barged into the university, as opposed to the VC of Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, who stood by the students. Mansoor has, however, always said he did his best, and talked about the importance of welfare and socio-economic justice over identity issues.
