By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,
Kochi: In the wake of central aid announced in the Budget for setting up the AMU off-campus centre in Kerala, Muslim organisations demand that the state government take immediate measures to accelerate the arrival of the campus in the state.
The government should complete the land acquisition immediately and hand over the land to the Aligarh Muslim University, said the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. If the state government continued its negative approach in the matter, the organisation warned, it would organise agitations, together with like-minded people and organisations.
The state government is not doing anything creative to solve the discrimination faced by the Malabar area in education. The government can easily acquire the land at Panakkad, but it is adamant on the land at Perinthalmanna, which is sure to be tangled in the legal cobweb since the land owners have approached the court against acquisition, the JIH state secretariat said.
The state government should accelerate procedures to set up the AMU off-campus centre at Malappuram, said Kanthapuram AP Abdul Qader Musliyar, general secretary, All India Jam’iyyathul Ulema. Since the central government has allotted Rs 25 crore for the purpose, now it is upto the state to act quickly. If the campus is lost because of the negligence of the government, that would be the biggest treachery towards minorities in the history of the country, he added in his statement.
As the central government has allotted Rs 25 crore for the AMU off-campus centre, the government should take immediate action to ensure not to lose the campus, said the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students Federation. If the government tries to curb the higher education dreams of Malabar, the state secretariat of the organisation warned, it would organise strong protests.
The Aligarh Muslim University has selected Malappuram district in Kerala among four other places in the country to set up its regional campuses. The state government had earlier planned to acquire 200 acres of land at Panakkad and written to the AMU about it. But later the government changed its plan stating that the Industries Department had already handed over that land to a public-private company. However, later it was known that the land had not yet been transferred to any agency, and that it was still under the state government.
In the meantime, the government decided to acquire 400 acres of land at Perinthalmanna for the purpose, but the land is in some legal disputes. Moreover, the land-owners have approached the court against the acquisition. The acquisition procedures have not yet begun.
Though it is clear that there are no problems with the land at Panakkad, the government wants to acquire the land at Perinthalmanna. It is feared that the campus may be lost for Kerala if the procedures are not completed soon.