Did not invite PM for convocation: AMU Vice-Chancellor

Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Lt Gen (Retd) Zameeruddin Shah on Tuesday said that his recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi was solely for the purpose of ensuring funds for different development projects of the university.

Shah said that reports suggesting that his meeting with the Prime Minister was to invite him for the university’s next convocation, is mere speculation and entirely baseless. “The question of inviting the PM was not even raised.

Therefore, any media report suggesting that I had gone with the purpose of inviting the PM is entirely speculative. I met the Prime Minister solely to apprise him about the inequitable funding for AMU, when compared to several other central universities,” he said. 

The Vice Chancellor clarified that any invitation to the PM involved a large responsibility and before taking any such decision, he would not only have to consult various bodies of the university but also different organisations representing teachers and students. Ever since an AMU-based youth organisation aired a suggestion earlier this month for inviting the PM to the campus, speculation has been rife about Modi’s arrival here.  

Interestingly, only two PMs of the country have addressed convocation ceremonies at AMU. In 1948, the then PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and in 1964, PM Lal Bahadur Shastri delivered the convocation addresses at the university