Lucknow: The Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union has asked President Ram Nath Kovind to apologise for his ‘Islam and Christianity are alien´ comment before he attends the varsity’s convocation on March 7.

In 2010, Kovind had given the statement while commenting on a report by the Ranganath Misra Commission. The Commission had, in its report, recommended 15% reservation for socially and economically backward religious and linguistic minorities (10% for Muslims and 5% for other minorities).

Kovind, a BJP spokesperson at the time, had said that the recommendation not possible to be enacted as it would be ‘unconstitutional’ to include Muslims and Christians in Scheduled Caste category. When Kovind was asked that how reservation was given to Sikhs under the same category, he had replied, “Islam and Christianity are alien to India.”

Opposing President Kovind’s AMU visit, AMU Students’ Union vice president, Sajjad Subhan said, “Either the President should apologise for his statement or should refrain from attending the convocation. There is resentment among the students against the statement and if anything untoward takes place, then the President and Vice-Chancellor will be responsible for it.”

Subhan said that the President should accept that all religions are equal. “If BJP and the President want peace then this statement should be taken back. The President’s visit is not going to do any good for the AMU campus either. He was invited by the VC due to vested interests. The VC wants to send a message that AMU has accepted the BJP ideology,” he said.

The student leader also said that local MPs, MLAs and RSS workers will not be allowed to enter the campus. “If they are invited, the students’ union will boycott the convocation and will also oppose the Vice Chancellor as he is busy saffronising the campus due to his vested interests,” said Subhan.