After section of male students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) ganged up against women students and tried to derail a feminist event, the venue was changed and the second day of the Women Leaders summit was held on the campus of the Women’s College on Wednesday, instead of the main AMU campus. However, the summit was held with great dignity and senior journalist Arfa Khanum who was not allowed to speak on Tuesday was finally able to address the audience.
“I always aim to bring down walls between communities because no matter what side we are on, at the end of the day we are all just people,” said Khanum on the subject of facing opposition for her secular sounding tweet on Holi. “I was accused of being too secular. What is wrong with being secular? It is a part of our pluralistic culture,” she asserted. Khanum an alumnus of the institution was determined to stick around and speak because she believed that as a woman she needed to set the right example for women students who had worked so hard to organise an event on such a large scale. She also clarified, “Some people are saying that it is AMU against Arfa Khanum, but the truth is that it is actually fundamentalism against Arfa Khanu
Journalist and secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace, Teesta Setalvad had expressed solidarity with Khanum and said she would not speak if Khanum was prevented from speaking. But after Khanum spoke Setalvad had some tough questions for the administration and the audience alike. “Shouldn’t one raise their voice when women are pushed back into their so called designated areas? Don’t women have equal rights to university spaces?” Setalvad lauded the courage and perseverance of the young undergraduate women students and reminded the audience of the courage of inspirational women. “How could we have continued the battle to defend and protect our constitutional rights if women like Fatima Nafees, Zakia Jafri and Rupa Mody not stood up,” she asked.
At the time of publishing this story no untoward incidents of violence or protests were reported after the venue was changed. This suggests that the entire exercise of bullying and harassing the women students was only to force them off the main campus, a space the male students consider their territory. However a college campus is not place for sexism or discrimination and AMU has a lot to answer for in the days to come.