By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: Six years after National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) recognised Jamia Millia Islamia as a minority institution, the HRD Ministry has decided to file an affidavit in Delhi High Court declaring that granting minority institution to Jamia was an error, retracting from the earlier stand of the government.
The Ministry will tell the court that declaring JMI a religious minority institution was an error in its understanding of the legal position and it was never intended to be a minority institution as it was set up by an Act of Parliament, and is funded by the central government, the Indian Express reported.
Importantly, the Attorney General of India, Mukul Rohatgi had advised the HRD Ministry, then under Smriti Irani, that it was entitled to change its view in court and revert to the stand that JMI is not a minority institution and respecting the ruling of NCMEI was not in accordance with the law.
According to the students in Jamia Millia Islamia, the withdrawal of minority status will have a potential backlash and students will take to the streets if the government tries to impinge upon the university minority character.
“The BJP government is known for its anti-Muslim stand and time and again they have been targeting minority institutions. Jamia Millia Islamia is one of the only two higher learning seat for Muslims in Northern India (the other being Aligarh Muslim University) and snatching minority status will lead to downfall of the confidence of Muslim students and negatively impact the growth of Muslims,” said Ateeb Maaz Khan, National Joint secretary, Muslim Student Federation and student at Jamia Millia Islamia.
He added that students would be forced to come on roads and protest if the government moves ahead with its plans of withdrawing the university minority status.
Another student activist Khusbhu Khan from Jamia said, “Tinkering with minority status is like robbing the community of its valuables and we won’t stay silent on it. It is their attempt to Hindutva-ise the university, as any such attempt is not possible until it remains Muslim-majority university.”
“It is the minority quota of Jamia which ensures that Muslim students get a chance to study in this prestigious university. Most of the students coming from our community either have done their basic schooling from Islamic seminaries or schools back in villages which flats their chances of competing with students coming from relatively good schools and colleges,” said Sameern Saifi who is doing her degree from Department of Education, JMI.
Students Islamic organisation also severely criticised the Central government’s retraction of the University’s minority status. Nahas Mala, President, SIO, stated that the controversy regarding Jamia Millia Islamia’s minority status is ill founded and wrongly taken.
“The retraction of central government from its earlier stand on the Minority status of JMI amounts to the denial of historical facts…SIO firmly believes and asserts that the character of JMI cannot be determined unless the specific historical context of their establishment is taken into consideration,” the organisation said in a release.
Professor Saima Saeed, Deputy Media Coordinator while reacting to the news told TCN, “These are mere speculations and we haven’t heard anything from the government yet. When anything comes as such we will reply and act accordingly.”
Recognising Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) as a minority institution, the university administration had in May 2011 issued a circular, implementing the 50% reservation to Muslim students for admissions in all courses of the university. Only 42% seats were open for the general category students. If minority status of the university is withdrawn, the Muslim quota will automatically be discarded and reservation for SC/ST and OBC will be applied as followed in other central universities.