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The Minister for Human Resource Development Shri Arjun Singh has said that the decision regarding reservations for Muslims in the policy of admission to the Aligarh Muslim University had been initiated and resolved by the Academic Council and the Executive Council of AMU which were the appropriate authorities for doing so. In a letter written to the leaders of the constituents and supporters of UPA Government today, he said that the HRD Ministry had conveyed its ‘no objection’ to the University upon being approached by it and after being convinced that the decision was in accordance with the powers conferred on the University by the AMU Act, 1920 and subsequent amendments thereof.
Produced below is the text of the letter:
“Your attention must have been drawn to the media reports relating to the reservation of 50% seats to students belonging to the category of ‘Muslims of India’ in certain courses offered by the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. I thought it would be in order to apprise you of the facts.
2. Let me, at the outset, put at rest the speculation that this decision is not that of the University authorities of the AMU. All of us who are committed to the NCMP, with the programme’s unwavering commitment to autonomy of institutions of higher learning, would neither doubt the Ministry of HRD’s respect for AMU’s autonomy, nor doubt the strength and the stature of this great Institution to protect its own turf from outside dictates. Understandably, those who trampled upon the autonomy of institutions of higher learning in the recent years have spread the canard that it is the Central Government’s decision. Let me reassure that the decision in regard to the question of reservation for Muslims of India in the policy of admission to the University has been initiated and resolved by the Academic Council and the Executive Council which are the appropriate authorities, of the University. My Ministry has conveyed its no objection to the University upon being approached by it, after being convinced that the decision is fully in keeping with the nature of the institution, that it was in accordance with the powers conferred on the University by the AMU Act, 1920, as amended in 1981; and, that the authorities of the University were competent to take such a decision.
3. Records of the period show that the AMU (Amendment) Bill, 1980 was introduced after wide ranging consultations by a Committee of the then Ministers of Education & Culture, Human Resource and Law, Justice & Company Affairs with representatives of a large number of Muslim organizations, university teachers, students, representatives of ‘old boys’ and others. The Bill was extensively debated in both the Houses of Parliament and, had met with near unanimous endorsement. I would draw your attention to the Lok Sabha Debates of the 22nd December, 1981 and the subsequent Rajya Sabha Debates of the 24th December, 1981.
I can not, more aptly, capture the spirit in which our Parliament had restored of the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University, than to quote from the views expressed by one of our most eminent parliamentarians ever, the late Indrajit Guptaji, while participating in the debate on the floor of the Lok Sabha:
……………….“as far as the main purpose of the Bill is concerned it is to invest the A.M.U. with the minority character as envisaged in Article 30. We fully support it…..the overwhelming majority of the Muslim community in this country are people who are critically underprivileged and also suffer from great deprivation of opportunities, of livelihood, of employment and of education also….I do not subscribe to the view that because the institution will have a majority of Muslims, therefore, automatically it must be having a communal colour or some kind of obscurantist or reactionary colour….. in the circumstances of today, the world today, where the Indian Muslims, let us face it, are being sought to be influenced by certain communal and divisive and fundamentalist pressures and agencies….it is very necessary that we should demonstrate before the world that for the largest religious minority …we are passing a law to ensure that the Aligarh Muslim University will have a minority character as per Article 30 of the Constitution.”
4. I need hardly react to the criticism of those who have called this reservation “anti-national.” An Institution, such as the AMU, imparting modern education, established predominantly for those who needed the most, has remained an eyesore for such elements. These sections have quickly spread the misinformation as reported in some newspapers that the “AMU had 25% reservation for Muslims and will now have 75% of its seats reserved if the 50% is added by way of the new Order.” Nothing can be farther from the truth. The reservation of 25% by the University (which was higher in earlier years) for its internal candidates – namely, those who have had the immediately preceding education within the schooling / undergraduate streams of the AMU – includes, reservation for both minority as well as non-minority students.
5. It is possible that the University authorities may not have succeeded in fully disseminating the factual position, leading to the misunderstanding that the AMU is no different from any other Central University. I am enclosing a note which brings out the uniqueness of the AMU owing to its minority character. I am also enclosing a statement furnished by the University showing the intake and the number of Muslim candidates admitted to some of the most prestigious and sought after courses of the University, during the last three academic sessions 2002-2003 to 2004-05. You would notice that the number of Muslim candidates admitted against the ‘filled seats’ in the AMU has always been much more than 50%. The present effort by the University is to establish and reemphasize the all India character of this premier institution.
6. I hope this letter will enable you to appreciate the issues in a comprehensive manner.”
SRK
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