Over the last few years, Jamia has promoted a liberal, modern and enlightened agenda. Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton and Harvard come to us with MoUs. But that is not something that will ever get reported. We name our buildings after individuals. Why? Because dead or alive we want to tell the world that Noam Chomsky is part of our intellectual legacy, that Nehru, Gandhi and Jamnalal Bajaj are as much a part of our legacy as Mohammad Ali or Syed Ahmad Khan. They are all secular figures. It’s been a Herculean effort to do this kind of thing. To see how easily, quickly, so ruthlessly and so crudely things have been twisted and distorted is distressing. In the last three years, Jamia has been the venue of at least seven conferences organised against Islamic terrorism. That people should even raise a question about our credentials is infuriating.

•Vandita Mishra: Why did you decide to offer legal aid to the accused students?

I have no doubt that what I did was absolutely right. The head of an institution is like a parent. Just as we would provide medical or travel aid to students, we would provide legal aid too. What is so wrong about it? This is a constitutional right that every citizen is entitled to in a free society. We are not defending the students. There is a difference between providing legal aid and defending them. I don’t know these students. But our position is clear: we will provide access to legal aid. Thereafter, they’re on their own. We are not going to defend them or go unnecessarily out our way to say they’re innocent.

... contd.