Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students are silent, unusual in an election season. Even the BJP, which seldom spares a chance to target the institution for some reason or the other, is also not using it to polarise the votebase.

S. Chandnibi, a retired AMU professor of history, believes the Covid lockdown and suppression by state authorities have silenced the students. However, she believes that history repeats itself and there’s hope things will change in future.

“Police broke the windows of the hostel rooms, threw explosives and tear gas canisters inside, used rifle butts and other weapons to torture the students and brutally suppress them during the protests against the Citizen Amendment Act in 2019 and 2020. The AMU authorities sided with the suppressors. It was a new kind of brutality against the AMU students,” says Chandnibi, remembering the time when AMU students humbled BJP leaders in 2018 — the party had tried to remove Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait from the union hall but couldn’t.

“Several active students are facing court cases. The majority of students from Jammu and Kashmir were also booked in criminal cases. These students and their family members were hunted and harassed,” she adds.

Madihur Rahman, a CPI leader from an erstwhile local nawab’s family, says: “The problem with AMU is that often the Muslim fundamentalists take over. For this, they are unable to leave any impact on the politics in Aligarh.”

Campaigning has been subdued in the constituency where Muslims make up around 42 per cent of the electorate.

Aligarh is famous for its lock industry and brass hardware but has failed to create employment in recent years, something incumbent BJP MP Satish Gautam is wary of. His main opponent, Bijendra Singh of the Samajwadi Party-INDIA bloc, is focusing on mobilising support from Jat villages besides counting on the Muslim votes.

Aligarh votes on April 26