Kannan Gopinathan, former IAS who quit over Art 370 abrogation, released after being detained on his way to fuel AMU protests

Kannan Gopinathan, the 32-year-old activist and former civil servant who resigned over the abrogation of Article 370, had been detained by UP Police on Agra border and was released yesterday evening. Gopinathan resigned as Secretary, Power department of the Union territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli on August 21, as protest against the situation in Jammu & Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370

Gopinathan was on his way to Aligarh Muslim University to participate in a protest against CAA, organized by Resident Doctors’ Association at AMU. Former secretary-general of TISS Student’s Union Fahad Ahmed, leftist activist Kavita Krishnan were also scheduled to attend the event. The Police detained Ahmed too, and there are no reports about Krishnan so far. 

According to the tweet by Gopinathan, he has been released on personal bond and was escorted outside UP.

According to District Magistrate, the law and order situation in the district deteriorated after visits by Swaraj India leader and activists Yogendra Yadav, and BRD Medical college fame Kafeel Khan, both of whom spoke against the CAA. “A law-and-order problem was created at AMU after statements against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by Dr Kafeel Khan and Yogendra Yadav,” reads the order. 

It is very much evident that the activists like Gopinathan, Kafeel Khan, and Yogendra Yadav are trying to instigate protesters in Aligarh. All they want is to politicize the event and magnify the situation. The students have already organized protests and the police allowed for the same, but, the presence of activists in the event will aggravate the situation, and therefore, the police arrested the activists.

AMU was founded by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who back in the second half of the 19th century, declared that “Hindus and Muslims are two Nations” and they could never live together peacefully. No doubt, his Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College (1875), which was later recognized as central university in 1920 by the British, played an instrumental role in the creation of Pakistan. Jinnah in/famously called it “arsenal of Pakistan”.

Almost seven decades after partition, AMU has maintained its ‘minority institution’ status (the matter is sub judice), and reserves 50 per cent seats for the ‘internal students’, and does not implement SC/ST/OBC or even the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota.

In FY 18, the total grant to 41 central universities was 7,315 crore rupees, of which, 1,115 crore rupees by AMU. The university gallops more than 15 per cent of total university grant.

The AMU students are protesting for the last few weeks; against the implementation of CAA, which seeks to accelerate the process of citizenship for the minorities from the neighbouring countries who have come to India before 2014. All the three countries included in the list are self-declared Islamic nations, and therefore thousands of people from minority community have migrated to India. The Modi government has accelerated the process of citizenship to these communities. But, the students of AMU and other organisations across the country are protesting against the Act; and are supported by left-liberals.