Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on THursday charged the Narendra Modi government with attempting to strip the Aligarh Muslim Univerity (AMU) and Jamia Millia Islamia of their minority status and termed the move as “communally and politically motivated”.
“The BJP-led Central government is out to strip these institutions of their minority status, which they got after a lot of struggle and this narrow mentality lowers the prestige of the country...this is like an attempt to make students belonging to religious minorities orphans,” Mayawati said.
“This communally motivated step of the BJP government is actually politically motivated,” she said, adding it was aimed at polarising its vote bank before the Assembly elections in some states, including UP. By dividing votes on caste, the BJP wants to serve the purpose of Samajwadi Party along with its own, she alleged, contesting the rationale being given for depriving these institutions of minority status.