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On this last Sunday of May ,2010, I am
holding in my hands the English daily Hindustan Times which l am
addicted to read every morning since my boyhood days. A headline on
the front page reads: ‘Spar between ministers over Jamia’s
minority character.‘ The story says that the Union Minority Affairs
Ministry has advocated minority character for Jamia Millia lslamia
which the HRD Ministry is vehemently opposed to. lt further says
that the Minority Affairs Minister, expressing, displeasure on the
disclosure of these differences, said that the ‘Prime Minister would
be the judge and added that ‘l wilt win’. My next fortnightly
article for the ‘Rashtriya Sahara' was ready but the news in
the Hindustan Times prompted me to defer it at the last moment and
to express my views on this matter on priority.
The irony we face in this country is
that evidence is demanded also for what is quite conspicuous.
Official confirmation was required even for an extremely heinous
crime committed -- thanks to television —— in full view of millions
of people all over the world, and to furnish it a learned judge took
17 long years. Ignoring the historical facts about AMU and Jamia
Millia lslamia and depriving them of their minority character is in
my opinion more damaging than demolishing historical mosques or idly
witnessing their demolition. Who had established the AMU and Jamia
Millia lslamia, under what circumstances, with how strenuous
efforts, and for whom, answers to these questions are irrefutable
part of the history of this country. Sir Syed , Ahmad Khan toiled
away to lift his co-religionists from the lowest ebb of educational
backwardness, with a begging bowl in his hand travelled throughout
the country, braved for months together hazards of sailing to far
off London to determine directions of his educational mission,
killed his self respect to bear tantrums of foreign rulers, became a
victim of non-stop vituperation by his own people, digested
continuous taunting by Akbar Allahabadi, faced a fatwa of kufr
(heresy) procured from the Hijaz, nurtured the upcoming
Madrasat-ul-Uloom buildings with his old-age sweat, then at last
came into existence the institution which the world knows today as
the Aligarh Muslim University. Who were Sir Syed’s comrades-in-arms
in this crusade supporting him financially and by words and-deeds?
Mohsinul Mulk, Wiqarut Mulk, Shibii Nomani; Altaf Husain Hali, the
Nawab of Rampur, the Begums of Bhopal state, who else'? And, for
whom was this palatial edifice of education built'? Obviously not
for those fellow countrymen who neither suffered from educational
backwardness nor lacked in material resources, but for those
hard-working elders’ own community that was totally lacking in
worldly comforts and to see whoso children holding the Quran in one
hand and science in the other Sir Syed laid this garden of learning.
And, what does the word ‘Muslim‘ in the nomenclature of the
institution indicate, what do the engraved arches and ramparts of
AMU speak of? Why is a Our’anic verse printed on top of the
University degrees? Is there an iota of scope for denying that it
were the elders of the present-day Muslim minority who had sweated
blood to establish this institution and left it behind as their
heritage for brightening the community’s future?.
And, what is the Jamia Millia lslamia
- an offshoot of Aligarh’s temple of learning to plan whoso
establishment a great Musiim leador Muhammad Ali Jauhar convened
meetings with like minded people in a dingy room of Aligarh’s "Kachchi
Barik," hostel whoso Foundation Committee included eminent
religious scholars like Mufti Kifayatullah, Syed Sulaiman Nadwi,
Shabbir Ahmad Usmani and Husain Ahmad Madni, which- was inaugurated
by Maulana Mahmud Hasan of Dooband, which was later shifted to Delhi
and placed in the care of Hakim Ajmal Khan, to keep which alive Dr.
Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari and a number of nationalist Muslims made
strenuous efforts, to serve which on returning home three brilliant
youth of the community then studying in Germany together - Zakir
Husain, Muhammad Mujeeb and Aabid Husain -- committed their lives
sacrificing a bright future otherwise awaiting them, where Urdu was
adopted as the language of teaching and administration, where
vice-chancellor was designated as ‘Shaikh-ul-Jamia' and registrar as
‘Musaijil,’ for such an institution one needs to be told as to who
established it, why, and for whom?
Why Father of the Nation Mahatma
Gandhi, the first architect of independent India Jawaharlal Nehru,
and the right-hand man of both, Maulana Azad, had not acceded to the
communalists‘ demand made during the dreadful post-partition days to
delete the words ‘Muslim’ and ‘lslamia‘ from the names of AMU and
Jamia Millia lslamia? Why the leaders of the community had rejected
the offer made by the communalist lobby when communal politicians
proposed that the AMU campus be exchanged with the DAV College of
Lahore, why had these elders of the nation outrightly rejected the
proposal — obviously since these great leaders were
history-conversant, reality-conscious, champions of justice and
far-sighted. Fully recognizing that both these institutions had been
established for the Muslim citizens by their ancestors, and knowing
well that in a democracy it often becomes difficult for the
minorities to remain educationally at par with the majority, they
never wanted to deprive the community of this precious ancestral
heritage.
When over two years after independence
a National i Constitution for free India came in force, it
unconditionally guaranteed to all religious and linguistic
minorities a fundamental right to establish and run their own
educational institutions and strictly prohibited any discrimination
by the government against such institutions in matters of financial
aid, etc. Obviously, it neither did nor could mean that a minority
will be entitled to establish its own institutions in the future but
will have no rights over the pre-existing institutions established
by its ancestors and that such latter institutions shall be deemed
to be excluded from the purview of this constitutional guarantee. In
the first place such an interpretation of the Constitution shall be
extremely absurd and ridiculous, and then internal evidence against
such an interpretation is found in the Constitution itself. The name
of Aligarh Muslim University in itself reveals the history and
reality as to who had established it and for whom, and yet, it was
mentioned with this very particular name in the Constitution at its
inception and no change has ever been made in lt.
In fact, the Constitution did not
grant to the minorities any s new right to establish their
institutions; it just affirmed this right which was recognized even
earlier both in the country and under international human rights
law; and minority institutions established before independence
cannot be excluded from the scope of this affirmation.
I have always endeavoured, both in my
personal and all official capacities, to elucidate these historical
facts and constitutional realities and emphasized that both AMU and
Jamia are definitely minority institutions and cannot be deprived of
such character. The recent report of Ranganath Mishra Commission,
prepared by me, has also strongly recommended that by means of
specific Parliamentary legislation both these institutions should be
entrusted with specific and unrestricted responsibility of
fulfilling educational needs of the Muslim minority, since I am
convinced that this is the demand of justice.
lf the Hindustan Times report
forming the basis of my submissions is accurate, the Minority
Affairs Minister has certainly served the cause of constitutional
justice by raising his voice in favour of the minority character of
Jamia Millia Islamia, for which he deserves appreciation and
greetings. And, if the news report is also true that the HRD
Minister is opposed to recognizing the minority character of Jamie
Millia lslamia, I would like to submit to him with due deference
that Jamia Millia Islamia was conceived and nurtured by our
ancestors and is the apple of our eye on which we have a historical
and constitutional right -- negating its minority character is
tantamount to losing sight of historical facts and ignoring demands
of constitutional justice.
Translated from Urdu by
The Milli Gazette
Prof Tahir Mahmood,
Chairman, Amity University Institute Advanced Legal Studies, is a
former Chairman of National Minorities Commission & Member Law
Commission of India
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