Long March for Minority Status

While the Supreme Court has stayed an Allahabad high court judgement which has struck down the minority status of AMU, the Central government’s withdrawal from the appeal is being interpreted as the BJP/NDA government’s betrayal of the Muslim community   Arati Bhargava Even as all major political parties have started to gear up for next year’s legislative assembly election in India’s most populous (215 million) state of Uttar Pradesh, a game-changer pre-election skirmish is being fought in the Supreme Court of India on the issue of the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which dominates the eponymous town (pop.1.2 million). Established in 1877 as the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College by anglophile social reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898) to nurture and shape leaders of the country’s socio-economically backward 150-million strong Muslim community, over the past 129 years AMU has transformed into the country’s showpiece Muslim minority-run university providing high-quality higher education to 32,000 students instructed by 1,600 faculty. But now the BJP-NDA government, which was swept to power in New Delhi in General Election 2014, has questioned the minority status of AMU. First on January 11, 2016 and then three months later on April 4, the attorney-general of India Mukul Rohatgi informed the Supreme Court that the Central government is withdrawing its appeal against a Allahabad high court judgement of 2006 (Dr. Naresh Agarwal & Ors vs. Union of India (WP No.15504 of 2005)) which struck down AMU’s minority status. The Congress-led UPA government (2004-14) had filed an appeal in the apex court against this judgement which rejected the constitutional validity of the AMU (Amendment) Act, 1981 under which Parliament declared AMU a minority university. In its writ of appeal against the Allahabad high court verdict, the UPA-II government justified enactment of the AMU (Amendment Act) on the ground that AMU was founded by members of the Muslim community in 1877, and as such was entitled to protection under Article 30 of the Constitution which confers the right “to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice” on religious and linguistic minorities. Now the Union government which is one of four appellants against the Allahabad judgement has made plain its intent to withdraw from the case, currently being heard by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court. In the event of the judges of the apex court upholding the Allahabad high court’s judgement in Dr. Naresh Agarwal & Ors vs. Union of India, loss of minority status will be a huge setback for AMU. As a minority institution, it has the right to reserve up to 50 percent of capacity for Muslim students in all study programmes without being obliged to reserve 49 percent of capacity for other backward castes (OBCs), scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) – mandatory for all Central-funded institutions of higher education. Moreover, minority higher education institutions enjoy full freedom in faculty and other appointments. “I have received instructions to withdraw the Union government from this appeal. The stand of the Union of India…