The political significance of Tariq Mansoor’s move from AMU VC to U.P. legislator

A day after the Uttar Pradesh Governor accepted his nomination to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council by the BJP government, Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor resigned from his post, more than a month before his extended tenure comes to an end. While a section of teachers in AMU alleged that he had been awarded for doing the bidding of the government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh during his six-year-tenure, political observers said that the BJP could project Prof. Mansoor as the educated face of the Pasmanda Muslims in the run-up to the Lok Sabha poll. “Originally hailing from Meerut, Prof. Mansoor’s grandfather Abdul Khaliq was a professor of law at AMU and went on to become chairman of the municipal council in Aligarh. May become Minister Prof. Mansoor is credited for steering the university to the middle path when the local BJP unit was building an anti-AMU narrative during the Jinnah portrait controversy, and when AMU students took to the streets during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. His tenure’s high point was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the centenary celebrations and described AMU as a “mini-India.” Through his articles in national dailies, Prof. Mansoor has been supporting the narrative of the BJP government.