Aligarh: A student of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has written a letter to the Vice Chancellor demanding the construction of a Saraswati Temple inside the institution’s campus.

Ajay Singh, an LLM student at the AMU, who has demanded the construction of temple, is the grandson of Aligarh BJP MLA Dalveer Singh.

Extending support to Ajay Singh’s demand, Dr Manvendra Pratap Singh, member of the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education, said “There are at least 6,000 Hindu students in the university, but there is not a single temple, while there are mosques in almost every hostel. What kind of secularism is this?”

“When there can be temples in Arab countries, which are 100 per cent Muslim countries, why can’t there be one here in AMU? I want to ask this question to all the secular people, to the Congress as well, who preach these talks but have never talked about a temple in AMU. The university’s secularity will only be accepted when there are temples, mosques, gurudwaras, etc, side-by-side,” added Pratap.

However, Faizul Hasan, the ex-AMU students’ union president, who is not in favour of a temple inside the university, recalled a 2015 Supreme Court’s verdict, which prohibited the construction or demolition of any religious building in central universities or educational institutions.

Hasan said, “In 2015, the Supreme Court had ruled that any new religious building, like temples, mosques, churches, etc, will not be constructed in central universities or educational institutions. The court also said that any existing temple or mosque will not be demolished.”

He further added that even if the whole university comes out in support of the demand of constructing a temple within the AMU campus, it will not happen because of SC’s verdict.