By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: As the budget session of the Bihar Assembly is going on, the Bihar zone of Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) staged a sit-in in Patna today to highlight the apathetic attitude of the state government towards the Kishanganj special centre of Aligarh Muslim University.
The students body, supported by other social organizations, demanded the JDU-BJP alliance government to immediately acquire land for the AMU centre in Kishanganj.
“We demand immediate land acquisition for the special centre of AMU,” said Irshad Hussain, ex-president, SIO, Bihar while leading the demonstration. He also demanded that the land should be in one piece.
Last year Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ordered acquisition of 250 acre land for the centre but it was not accepted by the AMU authorities as the land was scattered in three different locations. The AMU wants its centre on single piece of land.
SIO leader also demanded that the land should be provided to AMU free of cost.
“The land should be in one piece and it should be given to AMU free of cost, not on lease as the state government last year announced,” said Hussain while talking to TCN.
He also questioned the loud talk about development in the state. “What kind of development is it when they are just destroying the educational institutions in the state?”
Students from different colleges and educational institutions in the state capital and representatives of different social organizations including Shiksha Sudhar Andolan, Lok Parishad and AISA took part in the sit-in. The students had come from Science College, BN College, College of Commerce, Engineering College and other institutions.
Addressing the demonstrators, Firoz Gandhi of Shiksha Sudhar Andolan lambasted the government for double speaking. “The government promised all support for AMU project in the state but what did they do? Right now the CM may be making tall claims and promises in the Assembly but they will remain just promises,” he said.
Rupesh Kumar from Lok Parishad while taking part in the sit-in talked to TCN on the issue of AMU campus in Bihar.
“It is not the demand of just SIO. In fact the Nitish Kumar government had made commitment to provide all support to the AMU centre. But this was around election time last year. Once the elections were over, the government has put the issue in cold storage,” Kumar said.
Asked about the benefit of the AMU centre, he said: “First, this will help immensely in increasing the literacy graph in the whole northeastern region of the state. Second, Kishanganj, highly Muslim dominated district, is lagging far behind both in economy and education. The AMU campus will help the community improve their education level, and thus improve their economy as well,” he said.