Notice served to historian Irfan Habib over remarks targeting PM Modi, Amit Shah

Aligarh Civil Court Advocate on Tuesday sent a notice to historian Irfan Habib for allegedly taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah during a speech at the Aligarh Muslim University here.

In a notice to Habib, lawyer Sandeep Kumar Gupta said that a speech delivered by the historian at the Aligarh Muslim University on Monday was "against the unity and diversity of India and it also challenges sovereignty".

Pointing out at Habib's speech, Gupta in the notice said: "You advised Amit Shah to remove Shah from his name as it is a Persian word, you said RSS was formed to attack Muslims, you blamed Hindutva idealogue Veer Savarkar of dividing the nation despite the fact that two-nation theory was propounded by Jinnah, you ridiculed the use of Gandhi's spectacles in government's Swwacchta Abhiyan."

In the notice, the advocate said he has taken cognisance of Habib's "poisonous statements" from various newspapers.

He sought a reply from Habib within seven days and asked him to publish an apology, warning him of strict legal action if not done so.

The historian's alleged remarks come in the wake of the controversy over the new citizenship law, which has come into force last week.