TCN Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: “It will be sad day in the history of Jamia, if it will be granted status of Muslim minority institution as it will not only lead to result in monopolizing the management and administration of the university and leading to a complete degradation of its academic life but also provide the protection for corruption”, argued Prof. Imtiyaz Ahmad. He was speaking a in a public meeting titled- “Debating Jamia Minority Status” today here in Jamia. The meeting was organized by Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA). Prof. Imtiyaz Ahmad, an eminent sociologist while furthering his arguments said, “it will jeopardize the academic excellence of Jamia like Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)” “AMU, which used to be a premier institution once upon a time, lost its position after gaining minority status”, he added. He also sees a politics behind the move of those who are demanding for minority status of Jamia. Speculating about the politics behind, he said, “It seems a handful of teachers and staffs (of Jamia) are playing in the hands of Minister of Minority Affairs and want Jamia to Talibanise”. He further said, “Only elite and north Indian Muslim will be getting benefit of it like AMU”.
L-R: Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad, Prof. T K Ommen, Arshad Alam and Prof. M. S. Bhat
Earlier, speaking on issue of the minority status of Jamia, Prof. T.K. Oommen, a member of Sachchar Committee Report feared that, “it would degrade the brand value of Jamia’s degrees”. “Jamia, which has emerged as an institution of excellence after becoming a central university, and its students find a great number of opportunities when they enter the job market, will lose its ranking if it is turned in to Muslim minority institution”, he added. He further feared that, “it will also lead to reduction in grant and inflow of best of the minds both in terms of teachers and students”. Clearing his point on reservation for disadvantage class among Muslims, he said, “I am all in favor of providing reservation for them but reservation as a whole to Muslim community is not going to help in the process of empowerment of Muslims”.
Joining the discussion, Prof. M.S. Bhatt, former Head of Department of Economics, JMI forcefully rejected the demand for minority status. “It would be against the spirit of Jamia to convert it in to a Muslim minority institution”, he declared. While accepting the fact that, Jamia was established by Muslims he said, “it is true but they were nationalist and founding fathers of Jamia, wanted it to be an institution for not only for Muslims but also for the other disadvantage classes of the country. Prof. Shamim Hanafi, Professor Emeritus, Department of Urdu, JMI while recalling the glorious history of Jamia, reiterated that, “under no circumstances should the demand for minority status be accepted”.
On this issue, first para of the pamphlet distributed by JTSA in the meeting reads, “(T)he moot question facing us today in Jamia is how to ensure optimum Muslim representation in institutions of higher education. This sentiment is entirely legitimate given the fact that Muslims lag behind in higher education, as established by the Sachar Committee Report. The debate remains whether minority status for Jamia is the best recourse to realize this. The crucial thing to discuss is if minority interests will be served better by granting minority status or by retaining Jamia as its founders visualized—that is, a university that will have a stake in the national mainstream. Jamia was envisaged as a space of higher learning and critical thinking against the insularity and isolationism of all kinds. The demand for minority status vitiates that glorious history of Jamia as a secular inclusive space and will push the university towards ghettoisation”.