By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Established with the goal to “support the poor and needy students of the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College”, the Anjuman-a-Faz or Duty Society or Anjuman-Al-Farz now seems to have lost its cause and is behaving as a mere bureaucratic setup with no accountability towards the people for whom it was established.
Several students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have come forward opposing the recent advancement in the the Anjuman, alleging that it has become a tool for lobbying politicians.
Sharjeel Usmani, one of the students of AMU, said, “What they are doing these days, is just the act of making fun of such a big organization. They will have to get back to the grassroots level, like previous days, and motivate and educate students from various backgrounds to get admission into AMU.”
“If they are unable to do work in the welfare of the students, it is better that they shut the operations,” added Usmani.
Anjaman-al-farz or Duty Society of Aligarh was founded in 1889 by Sahabzada Aftab Ahmad Khan, an alumnus of Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) college, during Sir Syed’s lifetime. The primary objective of the Anjuman was to have a permanent fund to support the poor and needy students of the Mohammadan Anglo Oriental (MAO) College.
The members of the Anjuman visited different parts of the country to gather funds to help students of MAO College and garner support for MAO College and Aligarh Movement.
Members of the Anjuman use to sacrifice their holidays and go door to door to collect donations for the society. Historian Rakshanda Jalil described the society in one of her articles :
“Acutely aware that only the sons of the rich and landed classes could study within the hallowed portals of the M. A. O. College, self-consciously designed by its founder to be the ‘Cambridge of the East’, members of the Duty Society took upon themselves the onerous task of sacrificing their holidays and much of their leisure time by going from home to home and town to town, like mendicants begging for alms.
Not just that, members of the ‘Duty’ as it soon came to be called, set up tea stalls, served tea, even washed soiled cups and saucers with philanthropic zeal.”
According to students and alumni of AMU, this zeal and passion of the society has been lost somewhere since the members of the society started taking interest in getting photographed with politicians and other influential people. Allegations are that besides running a coaching institute – even for which the society takes a heavy fee from needy students – society has no role in substantiating its agenda in recent times.
AMU student Salman Khan said, “Society has lost its cause. They are running a coaching institute, that is understandable. But they are also taking a heavy fee from those who can’t manage such amount.”
Like other coaching institutes in the vicinity, the Anjuman’s coaching is also taking the same high fee for preparatory courses for AMU entrance examination. That fee may go up to Rs 5,000 per month or Rs 15,000 per course. “Sometimes they only reduce a thousand rupees from the fee after a lot of pursuing. That, another coaching can also do. Then what’s the purpose of the Anjuman,” added Khan.
The society used to run grassroots programs in which ‘duty members’ – which is what they were called – used to visit villages and teach students for MAO college – which later became AMU – entrance examination.
It is also a fact that it was the the Anjuman which managed to raise Rs 30 lakh in 1920 when MAO college needed funds for the transformation process into AMU.
One of the achievements of the society, as per their website, is to have “Arranged donation from Mr Nadim Tarin, an old boy for construction of a hall of residence for 500 students in 1993. This is a unique gesture of an individual in the AMU history.” But as a student from AMU rightly pointed out, “This is not the society’s achievement. This is Nadim Tarim’s generosity and philanthropy that he gave the donation for the society to sustain.
Another range of allegation against the society is that it conducts its annual meeting not even in Aligarh but in lavish hotels in Delhi. The Society also received a grant of Rs 32 lakh from the Ministry of Social Welfare but, as students allege, the society is also failing to provide necessary support to the needy students.
Prof Abul Hasan Siddiqui, the keeper of the society, answering the allegations, said: “I know people talk a much about us, but society is working on the grounds on which it was established. There is no such deviation or change as people are alleging us.”
However, Siddiqui explained that certain limitations have come in the way of operations because of changes in methods of collecting donations. He said, “Society used to get the donation from doors to doors because that was the pre-independence period. After independence, society became idle. Now after its rejuvenation in 1989, we fight hard for the donations.”
Siddiqui further said, “Now we don’t take donation from every person. Rather we have our patrons and members who fund the operations – like Nadim Tarim – and most of the income comes from coaching institute.
“We have certain limitations as a society which runs of philanthropy and donation,” said Siddiqui clarifying on the coaching institute exclusiveness. “We can’t provide free education if we want to sustain with the integrity,” he added.
According to Siddiqui, the society received only half of the grant from the Ministry of Social Welfare, and the half is still to be received. But Siddiqui was quick enough to add one remark to those alleging him saying, “Hum par iljaam wo laga rahe hain, jinks dukaanein duty society ki wajah se band ho gayi hain(The people alleging us, are those whose shops – referring to coaching centres in Aligarh – got closed because of Duty Society).”