Big dream: Patna University

The demand for according Patna University (PU) the status of a central varsity gained momentum on Thursday as senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha batted for the same.

Though chief minister Nitish Kumar has been insisting on a central university tag for PU at different forums, on Thursday it was Sinha who jumped on to the demand bandwagon.

At a daylong dharna organised by the Bihar Rajya Nagrik Sangharsh Morcha at Kargil Chowk, Sinha said he would talk to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and ask her to grant permission to raise the issue of granting central university status to PU in the Lower House.

Nitish, at the JD(U)’s Chhatra Adhikar Sammelan at SK Memorial Hall, on Thursday said: “PU should be granted central university status. If the varsity is given the tag, the state government will help in providing land for the university’s extension.” Nitish, Lalu Prasad and Sinha are all alumni of PU. Both Nitish and Lalu have been raising the issue of granting central university status to PU but the Centre has allegedly turned a deaf ear to the demand.

Sources in the varsity said the demand for the tag is not new but it has always been ignored, as there was no strong political lobby to push the case. “The demand for the central university status was first made when Arjun Singh was the human resource development (HRD) minister in the P.V. Narsimha Rao ministry (1991-96). Several leaders had raised the issue but no concrete plan was chalked out,” said a PU teacher.

Patna University Teachers’ Association general secretary S.B. Lal said: “As there was no strong political lobbying for PU, Arjun Singh accorded central university status to Allahabad University and Sagar University. He was associated with both the universities.”

Ranvir Nandan, a PU teacher and member of the Bihar Rajya Nagrik Sangharsh Morcha, said: “The Union HRD ministry claimed it was difficult to convert old universities into a central university because these institutions are government by their own rules. But during the tenure of UPA-1, then HRD minister Arjun Singh had accorded the status of central university to Allahabad University, which is also quite an old institution.”

The issue of according central university status has gained momentum in the past few months after former Union minister and senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh raised the issue in the Lok Sabha demanding central university status to PU.