Jinnah portrait a non-issue, says AMU VC
New Delhi, May 9: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor on Wednesday described as "a non-issue" the Jinnah portrait in the AMU, saying it also existed in the Bombay High Court and Sabarmati Ashram.
"No one was worried about the portrait until now. I think it is a non-issue. The student agitation had no relation to the Jinnah portrait row, they were protesting against the people who came to the AMU to disturb peace on May 2," he told the media.
Mansoor spoke after meeting Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh over engaging youths in paramilitary forces.
"I met Rajnath Singh over recruitment of students in central forces like the CRPF and CISF. It was a pre-scheduled meeting. It had no relation to the Jinnah portrait row," he said.
Mansoor said the Minister assured him he would send officers from paramilitary forces to interact with the AMU students and motivate them to join central forces.
In his over half hour meeting, informed sources said, Mansoor also briefed Rajnath Singh about the current situation in the AMU.
On the demand to remove a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah from an AMU hall, Mansoor said the portrait had been in the university since 1938 and it was put up at many places including the Bombay High Court and Sabarmati Ashram.
"We have already demanded a judicial inquiry into the issue."
On Tuesday, the VC urged the students protesting over the Jinnah portrait row to not let their studies suffer due to the unrest in the varsity.
Through a letter, he appealed to the students "not to fall into the trap of certain forces which are bent upon destroying the image of our alma mater and are playing with your bright future.
"Under no circumstances should you let your studies suffer, especially when your exams are just round the corner."
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Bhopal gas tragedy: Effects of leak seen in next generation of survivors, says ex-forensic doctor
Bhopal (PTI): The effects of poisonous gases that leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal 40 years ago were seen in the next generations of those who survived the tragedy, a former government forensic doctor has said.
At least 3,787 people were killed, and more than five lakh were affected after a toxic gas leaked from the pesticide factory in the city on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984.
Speaking at an event held by organisations of gas tragedy survivors on Saturday, Dr D K Satpathy, former head of the forensics department of Bhopal's Gandhi Medical College, said he performed 875 post-mortems on the first day of the disaster and witnessed 18,000 autopsies the next five years.
Sathpathy claimed Union Carbide had denied questions about the effects of poisonous gases on unborn children of women survivors and said effects would not cross the placental barrier in the womb in any condition.
He said blood samples of pregnant women who died in the tragedy were examined, and it was found that 50 per cent of poisonous substances found in the mother were also found in the child in her womb.
Children born to surviving mothers had the poisonous substances in their system, and this affected the health of the next generation, Sathpathy claimed and questioned why research on this was stopped.
Such effects will continue for generations, he said.
Satpathy said it was said that MIC gas leaked from the Union Carbide plant, and when it came in contact with water, thousands of gases were formed, and some of these caused cancer, blood pressure and liver damage.
Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said Satpathy, who carried out most autopsies, and other first responders in the 1984 disaster, including the senior doctors in the emergency ward and persons involved in mass burials, narrated their experiences during the event.
Rashida Bee, president of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, a poster exhibition covering every aspect of the disaster will be held till December 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the tragedy.
An anniversary rally will be organised, with focus on global corporate crimes such as industrial pollution and climate change, she said.
