New Delhi: Since March 8, on every working day of the Parliament’s ongoing budget session, Mohammad Jawed, Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar, has stood in protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue within the Parliament complex.
Jawed’s silent protest has attracted neither media attention nor loud expressions of solidarity from his Parliament colleagues apart from occasional expressions of support from a handful of MPs such as Shashi Tharoor, Manickam Tagore, Saptagiri Ulaka, and a few others.
Mohammad Jawed said, "I will keep protesting till the funds are allocated for the Aligarh Muslim University's (AMU) Kishanganj Centre. The banner he holds up every day of his protest reads: ‘Release Funds Save AMU Centre Kishanganj’
Talking to ETV Bharat, the Congress MP said " Its been eight years, since the UPA government led by then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone for the campus and allocated 136 crore. After eight years, only 10 crore rupees has been sectioned by the Modi government. I also met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and handed her a letter signed by 60 parliamentarians demanding release of funds as soon as possible."
He added: "Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency from where I come from, is the most backward part of Bihar. Seemanchal (constituting districts of Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria and Katihar), that has a population of over a crore people has no education infrastructure to cater to the needs of our youth.
"The UPA government’s decision to open an AMU Centre in Kishanganj had come as a ray of hope for lakhs of our youth who want to study and make something of their life but seven years after it was proposed, the Kishanganj AMU Centre is on the verge of closure for lack of funds,”
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