By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
New Delhi: It is a paradox that Indian Constitution allows minorities to establish educational institutions of their choice but government decides about minority character of those institutions, said prominent Islamic scholar Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani.
He condemned the government’s efforts to deprive institutions established by minorities of their minority character. He put his views in the context of the issue of the minority character of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI).
Maulana Wali Rahmani, who is secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said in principle, government has got no right to decide which institutions possess minority character because the Constitution of India has given minorities the right to establish their institutions.
Calling the efforts to implement OBC quota in JMI a ‘forced occupation,’ Maulana Rahmani said if some people today start claiming that JMI is not a minority institution, how could their logic be accepted when the intention of the founders of JMI is very clear on this issue and even the authorities of JMI have already filed an affidavit in high court admitting the minority character of JMI? He said the initiatives being taken in connection with enforcement of OBC quota in JMI are completely unprincipled and run against the objective of establishment of JMI. He also demanded the Union government to immediately remove all impediments in maintaining minority character of JMI.
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