By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: With hardly a week left with the Congress-led UPA government at the centre to work, the Jamia Minority Status Coordination Committee, formed recently with the sole purpose of restoring the minority status of Jamia Millia Islamia, held a program today in New Delhi pressing the Manmohan Singh government to declare the minority status of the prestigious predominantly Muslim university.
The Jamia Minority Status Coordination Committee demanded the government not to impose the Central Education Institution Act 2006 in Jamia (because the Act is not applicable in minority institutes). The Committee also demanded the government to remove ambiguity about the minority status of the central university by an unequivocal declaration affirming that Jamia is a minority educational institution, within the meaning of Article 30(1) of Constitution of India. The Committee also urged the government and Jamia authorities to reserve at least 50% seats for the students of Muslim Minority community in all courses of the university.
(L-R) Prof. Nusratullah Khan, Sabir Ali (MP), Kunwar Danish, GS, (JD-S), Maulana Arshad Madani, Mohd. Adib (MP), Ahmad Saeed Maleehabadi (MP)
The Central Education Institution Act 2006 has provided 49.5% reservation to students from reserved categories (15% for SCs, 7.5% for STs and 27% for OBCs) in government educational institutions minus minority institutions. After the passage of the act, Union HRD Ministry had sent a letter to Jamia Millia Islamia and other institutes to implement the act. Since then the old movement for restoration of minority status of the university has been renewed. The Jamia Minority Status Coordination Committee has held several programs on the issue in Delhi.
In today’s program attended by some Muslim MPs besides Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind leader Maulana Arshad Madani, speakers were unanimous that government should declare Jamia a minority institution. If the present UPA government has little time to come up with an act or to amend the Jamia Millia Islamia Act 1988, it should declare the same through an executive order.
Advocate Tariq Siddiqi who is fighting the Jamia case in the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, said Jamia is a minority institution under Article 30(1) of the Constitution. The Jamia registered as a society in 1938 was granted the status of Deemed University in 1962 under UGC Act 1956. Jamia was formally incorporated as Central University by an Act of Parliament in 1988. The act says that implementation of reservation provisions is on the discretion of Jamia, but there have been moves from governments to usurp its minority status.
From 1938 when Jamia was registered as a society to 1962 when it was made a deemed university to 1988 when an Act of Parliament made it a central university, there has been concerted move not only to diminish its minority character both in terms of admissions and faculty but also in the aims and objectives of the university.
The Jamia Millia Islamia Act 1988 passed by the Congress government does not talk about the minority status of the institution. It is interesting to note that when the bill was being discussed in the Parliament none other than A B Vajpayee of BJP raised the issue of minority status of Jamia. Senior journalist Asif Umar Asif, who was listening to the debate from the press gallery in the Lok Sabha, told this correspondent that during the debate on the Jamia Millia Islamia Act Vajpayee demanded inclusion of minority character point in the bill.
Addressing the gathering Member of Rajya Sabha from LJP, Sabir Ali said the minority status of Jamia is a community issue and all Muslim political leaders cutting across party line should make the demand in a single voice.
Newly appointed Rajya Sabha MP Muhammad Adib also supported the move and said there is a need to press parties to make promise on the issue.
Rajya Sabha MP Ahmad Saeed Maleehabadi echoed Adib and stressed on the unity within the community to make the demand strong.
Kunwar Danish, general secretary, Janata Dal (Secular) said that all parties should included the issue in the election manifesto. He promised his party will do the same and if became part of the next government, it will do everything to restore the minority status of the university. He also suggested the organizers to lead a Muslim delegation to Delhi Chief Minister, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Ex-presidents of Jamia students union Shams Perwez, Badruddin Qureshi and Muhammad Shoaib also expressed their views on the topic.
Badruddin Qureshi said that when the 1988 act was being debated in Parliament the students and faculty had protested as minority status clause was not part of the bill but they were silenced by community leaders, saying that after it becoming a central university was more important than anything else.
Presiding over the program, Maulana Arshad Madani said there is a need to change this small hall meeting into a people’s movement. He said that to press the authorities the community will have to come to street in thousands and lakhs. He said he is ready to lead the masses on the issue and promised to discuss the Jamia issue and the issue of central madrasa board in the Jamiat Ulama program to be held in Lucknow this weekend.