As per posters of the event, put up within and outside campus, it was part of the three-day awareness campaign against the proposed NRC and CAA. (Representational)

(Written by Alifiya Nalwala)

While the state Education department has stipulated that no events of any political nature should be held on the campus of educational institutions where students are made a part of them, posters of such an event were visible at the Azam Campus on Saturday.

A lecture took place at the mosque located within the educational complex, where the spokesperson of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, Khalil-ur Rahman Sajjad Nomani, addressed a “students’ conference” between 10 am and 1 pm on Saturday.

The posters — in which the words NRC, NPR, CAA had cross marks over them — stated, “We are out to save the Constitution, come walk with us.”

However, organisers later clarified that “wrong posters” were put up owing to “mismanagement” but no discussion on CAA or NRC took place. Both authorities at Azam Campus, which provided the space, and event organisers claimed that no discussion on the CAA, NRC and NPR was held with students. “There is an awareness programme on CAA and NRC in the evening, for which police permission has been sought. The morning conference was for students and had no such discussion. They can put up whatever posters they want but we don’t allow such things on our campus without police permission,” said P A Inamdar, president of the Maharashtra Cosmopolitan and Education Society, which runs Azam Campus.

Ali Inamdar, a spokesperson for the event organisers, also said there was no political discussion at the students’ seminar. “In fact, Maulana saab was initially reluctant to address the students’ conference too. However, all he did was guide the students about tenets of Islam… It was more of a soul-searching experience for students and the spiritually inclined, which is necessary in today’s materialistic world.”

The spokesperson added, “Actually, there is a larger public conference which he will address on Saturday evening, for which the poster was designed and which is about NRC, CAA. When it came to the students’ conference, the same poster was used, just replacing the general conference tag. Yes, it was a mistake given current circumstances, but it was mismanagement from our end and there was no other intention.”