The groups call CSSI faculty hypocritical, saying they lecture on exclusion and discrimination but are now platforming someone ‘who has consistently aligned himself with Hindutva politics’
NEW DELHI — Jamia Millia Islamia student groups have condemned the institution’s Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion (CSSI) for inviting Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to speak at an event coinciding with the observance of Constitution Day, calling it a “grave betrayal”.
The groups, All India Students’ Association (AISA), the student wing of Rashtriya Janata Dal (CRJD), the Dayar I Shauq Students’ Charter (DISSC), the Fraternity Movement, and the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) on Wednesday criticised the move as a political endorsement disguised as academic engagement, saying it insults communities the centre claims to represent, especially Dalits and minorities.
The groups highlighted Khan’s defence of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and support for amendments to Waqf laws, calling these attacks on minority rights. The groups also referenced Khan’s remarks at the 2019 Indian History Congress, where he justified the CAA and targeted protestors by misquoting Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
According to the statement, Khan had described Partition as a moment that “took away the dirt and left the dirty water behind”, language the groups said was meant to demean dissenting citizens.
“This is the man CSSI has chosen to legitimise,” the statement read, calling his record one of confrontation with student protest and alignment with the ruling regime.
The statement called CSSI faculty hypocritical, saying they lecture on exclusion and discrimination but are now platforming someone “who has consistently aligned himself with Hindutva politics.”
They accused CSSI faculty of abandoning their own stated principles, “Professors who lecture on exclusion, discrimination and majoritarianism in classrooms are now opening their doors to its representatives,” the groups said, adding that this was “hypocrisy of the highest order.”
They argued that inviting Khan under the banner of academic dialogue turned the Centre into “a gateway for Hindutva to enter Jamia.”
Calling it “ironic and shameful,” the groups said using a day dedicated to India’s secular and democratic Constitution to honour someone who has defended exclusionary citizenship laws shows “not only academic hypocrisy but deep disrespect for constitutional values.”
According to the statement, “A Centre built to study social inclusion is now lending its platform to someone who justifies exclusion. A Centre that claims to critique majoritarianism is busy normalising it. A Centre that claims to speak truth to power is now hosting power itself to silence truth.”
The groups said this was “not an invitation, but a stain on the academic integrity of those organising it.”
Declaring that they “refuse to legitimise this betrayal,” the student organisations called for a campus-wide boycott of the programme. The groups urged students to “reject this farce of academic neutrality” and to gather in peaceful but firm resistance on the day of the event.
Critics say Governor Khan’s deepening entwinement with Hindutva ideology is evident in his fervent defence of CAA, which he frames as a fulfilment of Nehru and Gandhi’s promises to Pakistani minorities.
Khan’s inflammatory remarks at forums, such as the 80th Indian History Congress, triggered loud protests. He is also infamous for his recurring confrontations with Kerala’s Left government over university autonomy and media access. Many argue that this pattern represents a stark betrayal of constitutional impartiality and has effectively turned the Raj Bhavan under his leadership into a BJP-aligned outpost pushing Islamophobic agendas at odds with the country’s secular fabric.
