PM Narendra Modi to lay foundation of university in the name of Jat leader
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a state university named after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, a Jat icon, in Aligarh on September 14. The move is aimed at winning over the Jat population, which accounts for about 17 per cent of the voter turnout. Population in 12 districts of West UP region.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Aligarh on Wednesday to take stock of the preparations for the Prime Minister’s visit.
According to PWD principal secretary, Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, it will take at least 24 months from the date of construction of the university, when its foundation stone will be laid. Therefore, the university is expected to be ready by September 2023.
The university will be built in an area of more than 115 acres in Lodha and Musaipur villages of Kol tehsil of Aligarh district.
The state government has already allocated an initial budget of over Rs 101 crore for this purpose.
At present, there is only one State University in Aligarh Division – Dr BR Ambedkar University in Agra.
The Yogi Adityanath government had decided to set up a state university named after Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh in Aligarh in 2019 after some right-wing organizations demanded renaming of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) after Singh. The land is donated for the prestigious Central University which was initially established as Muhammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College in 1877 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. The college was formally converted into a university in 1920.
According to PWD officials, the nodal department for the project, the state government has planned to construct a huge educational block, an administrative building, a facilitation centre, health centre, hostels for boys and girls and residential buildings for academic staff. .
Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh was a freedom fighter and social reformer born on December 1, 1886 in a socio-economically influential Jat family of Mursan in Hathras district.
He studied at the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College until 1905. He later founded Prem Mahavidyalaya, an indigenous technical institution in Vrindavan in 1909, an initiative which was instrumental in getting him nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1932.
.