AMU Kishanganj files reaches President of India for approval
By Md Mudassir Alam
New Delhi: AMU Kishanganj file has moved to the office of the President of India (Visitor of Aligarh Muslim University) for approval from the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD). This is really a good news for AMU Kishanganj supporters dreaming of the mega campus of the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University in Seemanchal area of Bihar. The news was shared by AMUCC (Aligarh Muslim University Coordination Committee) Convenor Mohammad Aslam after his telephonic conversation with Juglal Singh, the Secretary of MHRD. The information shared by AMUCC pushed the sitting Congress MLA from Kishanganj Mohammad Jawed to get the confirmation from MHRD, and later on he too repeated the same thing.
Members of AMUCC with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.
Before elaborating the whole issue, it would be right if the Delhi based non-political group AMUCC is praised for the Kapil Sibal – AMU Kishanganj episode. Although there are series of activities done by the group, but the effort to change the stand of Kapil Sibal for the proposed AMU Centre in Kishanganj is really commendable. Be it the Convenor, PROs, Finance Team and thousands of members, all had contributed at their level to get the formalities done by the Central Government on immediate basis. The result is before all, the MHRD took the action and the file has reached to President of India’s office.
The AMU Kishanganj proposal file was lying unnoticed since January 4, 2012, after the former VC of the Aligarh Muslim University Prof. P K Abdul Azis sent it to MHRD for the approval of Visitor and allocation of Rs. 50 crore for infrastructure development. However, as per the authentic sources the file of AMU Kishangnaj was not getting the attention from the concerned officials at MHRD. In fact, during the meeting of AMUCC delegates the officials of MHRD themselves admitted that the essential formalities are not going to fulfill in the recent time.
Although the Congress MP from Kishanganj Maulana Asrarul Haque and MLA Mohammad Jawaid had written request letters to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, but the Congress led UPA government didn’t take any action on AMU Kishanganj deadlock.
AMUCC – a dedicated group for making the proposal of AMU in Kishanganj a reality had prepared a powerful strategy under the supervision of Convenor Mohammad Aslam. Besides the officials at MHRD, the group members led by the Convenor met the concerned leaders of UPA, namely UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Minister of HRD Kapil Sibal, Minister of Law & Justice and Minority Affairs Salman Khursheed, Veteran Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, Minister of State for Human Resource E Ahamed among many others political leaders from the ruling party and opposition.
Fact is that, when the AMUCC delegates met with HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, he had denied the request for any immediate solution sighting the reason that a writ petition is pending in the Allahabad High Court against the proposed centres outside Aligarh. Same reason was given by the Law and Justice Minister Salman Khursheed. But the AMUCC team had the documental proof of the Allahabad High Court judgment, which was clearly mentioning that no any writ-petition is lying pending with the court. However, the court had given the scope of case listing if the petitioner comes forward for the same. At the same time, the meetings with top leaders of Congress also remained useful, as it worked as a force to push the file from MHRD to President’s office. The result is before all, within two months the action is taken by MHRD and hopefully the President of India will give her approval to AMU Kishanganj very soon. Last but not the least, the group of AMUCC has proved that if your approach is logical and you reach the main stakeholders for an issue like AMU Kishanganj, the desired results can be achieved in a short time.