By Mohammad Mudassir Alam,
Kishanganj: Kishanganj MP and MLAs along with some legislators from neighboring West Bengal have come together to step up pressure on the state government to speed up process to hand over land for AMU Study Centre in the Eastern Bihar district overwhelmingly dominated by Muslims.
A team led by Kishanganj MP Maulana Asrarul Haque, along with the elected MLAs from Kishanganj, namely Dr. Jawaid Azad (Congress – Kishanganj), Akhtarul Iman (RJD – Kochadhaman), Naushad Alam (LJP – Thakurganj), Tausif Alam (Congress – Bahadurganj), and two MLAs from neighbouring West Bengal state Gholam Rabbani (Goalpokher) and Ali Imran Ramz alias Victor (Chakulia) submitted a Memorandum to District Magistrate Dr. Sandip Kumar R R Pudakalkatti on Monday (12th September).
Bihar badly needs a central university that can offer modern education to the students from school level to higher level including professional courses. The announcement of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Special Centre in Kishanganj almost three years back came as a big hope for the people of the state who unwillingly need to migrate to other states to take contemporary education. Despite knowing the merits of AMU Special Centre, the Bihar Government is still unable to provide the required 250 acres of land free of cost to AMU administration. Whatever is the reason, might be the internal pressure from the coalition partner NDA or other outfits, the AMU Special Centre issue is getting delayed day by day.
People from Kishanganj district and other parts of Bihar are not at all happy with the poor response of Bihar Government on the offer of AMU, which is planning to set a mega campus offering almost all types of courses. Many non political groups including some prominent like Delhi based AMU Centre Bihar Movement Group and SIO are working at their own level to resolve the issue on immediate basis. But uncertainty about the land transfer issue is lingering on and this is altogether frustrating all.
As people from Kishanganj district started to complain their elected representatives about their roles (involvements) regarding AMU Centre and actions, hence the MP and four MLAs from Kishanganj district came together on a single platform a couple of weeks back. A meeting was organized in the district headquarters Kishanganj, which was attended by political leaders and intellectuals who had decided to submit a Memorandum before DM Kishanganj addressing to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on September 12, 2011.
Just after the submission of memorandum on Monday, the team of political leaders held a press conference at Khagra Circuit House from 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm and expressed their views about AMU Special Centre and slammed the Bihar Government delaying the proposal.
During the press conference, the MP of Kishanganj said, the educationally deprived district of Kishanganj had witnessed a ray of hope with the proposed AMU Study Centre. However, the Bihar government is trying to unnecessarily delay the proposal of AMU Centre and trying to misguide the people with wrong statements. In fact, the Nitish led Bihar government is claiming that it has given the required land to AMU administration, but the truth is something else.
Further, MP Maulana Asrarul Haque added based on the recommendations of Sachar Committee and Fatmi Committee it is need of the hour to establish a centre of Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj. Expressing his deep concern over the lucre response of Bihar Government, the Kishanganj MP said the issue of land transfer is pending for past three years. Hence, the people from all sections of the society in Kishanganj district are compelled to come on the road for demonstration.
Maulana Asrarul Haque said, if the Bihar Government doesn’t take any positive action in next 15 days of the submission of Memorandum, then unwillingly a democratic and non-violent protest will be launched in Kishanganj under the political surveillance of elected politicians from the Kishanganj and adjoining Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal. Kochadhaman MLA Akhtarul Iman, and other MLAs expressed their anger over Bihar government by the challenging the government. The memorandum submitted to DM Kishanganj says, 15 days’ time has be given to the government after that people will come on streets with their most desired demand following strikes, demonstrations, hunger strike, road rail blockage, court arrest and different shapes of agitations.
The step taken by the local politicians of Kishanganj and adjoining West Bengal is commendable, in fact, it is altogether a different chapter in the regional politics. Nitish led NDA government has no any elected representative from Kishanganj district of Bihar, which is big surprise for all. Now it depends on Bihar CM, whether he fulfills his commitment to bring the state in the path of progress or once again playing behind the curtains of dirty politics. Once again, I would like to mention the AMU Centre in Kishanganj Bihar is going to benefit all sects of the society both educationally and economically. So, the people of Bihar wake up, before it will be too late and AMU administration withdraws the proposal from Kishanganj.