'AMU strengthened India's cultural relations with Islamic world,' says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, December 22, that the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has worked to energise India's relations with several nations, especially its cultural relations with the entire Islamic world.

Addressing AMU students and faculty on the occasion of the university's centenary celebrations via video conferencing, PM Modi said the research done here in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian languages, as well as on Islamic literature, has given new energy to India's cultural communication with Islamic countries.

AMU, which was set up in 1920, completed 100 years on Tuesday. This is the first time in over five decades that a prime minister attended an AMU event.

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PM Modi also released a special commemorative postal stamp at the virtual celebration.

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank also joined the event via videoconferencing. Extending gratitude to PM Modi, AMU Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor said the AMU community is thankful to the prime minister for accepting the invitation to participate in the celebrations marking 100 years of the university.

The last time a PM attended an event at AMU was Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964. Before him, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had visited AMU four times.

He visited the university for the first time in 1948, when an honorary doctorate was conferred on him at the annual convocation, followed by visits in 1955, 1960 and 1963.

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