Narendra Modi to lay foundation stone of university named after Jat figure in Aligarh

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh State University in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday, his office has said. This will be followed by an address, and he will also visit the exhibition models of the Aligarh node of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor and the university, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. It said the university is being established by the state government in memory and honour of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, a freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer. The university is being set up in an area spread over 92 acres in Lodha and Musepur Kareem Jarouli villages of Aligarh’s Kol tehsil. It will provide affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh division, the PMO said. The government’s decision to set up the university after the noted Jat figure is being politically seen as part of the ruling BJP’s bid to win over the community ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the state early next year. A section of Jats, who live in sizeable numbers in western Uttar Pradesh, are seen to be aggrieved with the BJP over the issues of farmers. The establishment of a defense industrial corridor in Uttar Pradesh was announced by Modi while inaugurating the UP investors summit in Lucknow on 21 February, 2018. A total of six nodes Aligarh, Agra, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Lucknow have been planned in the corridor, the PMO said. In the Aligarh Node, the land allocation process has been completed, and land has been allotted to 19 firms that will invest Rs 1,245 crore in the node, it added. The corridor will help make the country self-reliant in the field of defence production and promote ‘Make in India’, it said.