KANPUR: A picture of AO Hume, founder of the Congress and former collector of Etawah, in Sanatan Dharm Inter College of the district, has triggered a controversy.
Raising the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked the college management to consider removal of this picture. The party’s state working committee member Dr Ramakant Mishra said the picture was a grim reminder of colonial rule and its oppression.
“Putting his picture is condemnable and shows negligence on the part of the college authorities. The picture should be removed,” he said.
College principal Sanjay Sharma said the picture should not be seen through the prism of colonial rule or slavery. The college building was constructed at Hume’s behest. That was why his picture had been placed among noted personalities.
Hume, according to Etawah historian Kush Chaturvedi, served as collector of Etawah two times—first in 1856 and then in 1864. In his first term, he dealt firmly with the 1857 Uprising but had to flee the district given the high intensity of the war of independence.
During his second term, Hume had got many buildings, including this college, Sadar Kotwali, Sadar Tehsil, Humegunj Galla Mandi, Victoria Memorial Hall and pucca talab constructed through his SDM Raja Laxman Singh, he said.
The Sanatan Dharm Inter College was known in the past as Hume’s High School, which introduced for English medium education in Etawah. This building was purchased in 1912 through an auction by a businessman Shyam Bihari Bhatele for ₹47,000. Sanatan Dharm Inter College was started in this building in 1914, he said.
{{/usCountry}}The Sanatan Dharm Inter College was known in the past as Hume’s High School, which introduced for English medium education in Etawah. This building was purchased in 1912 through an auction by a businessman Shyam Bihari Bhatele for ₹47,000. Sanatan Dharm Inter College was started in this building in 1914, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Mishra, however, rejected the college’s stand and said constructing the building was part of Hume’s work as a collector. Giving him a space with noted personalities for this reason could not be justified, he said.
To note, in the recent past, a controversy over a portrait of Jinnah in the central hall of Aligarh Muslim University had also led to a major political row in Uttar Pradesh.