Minor vices

Sir ? Whenever any controversy over the Aligarh Muslim University has hit the headlines, our political parties have used it as an opportunity to consolidate their votebanks and score points over their rivals (?Verdict storm brews?, Oct 7). This time, with assembly elections in Bihar around the corner, there has been a special desperation in their actions. Thus the Lok Janshakti Party?s youth wing has decided to take up the AMU issue, while the Samajwadi Party has pinned all the blame on the United Progressive Alliance government, in a bid to deflect attention from its own failure to set up the Maulana Ali Jauhar Urdu University at Rampur. With the Bharatiya Janata Party being the only party supporting the Allahabad high court?s decision to nullify AMU?s minority status, the whole issue has been given a political colour. The controversy, you may be sure, will carry on for a long time, hampering academic activities in the university.

The annulment of minority status is AMU?s personal matter and should be taken up by its students? union and the authorities concerned. The government of India has always recognized AMU as an institute of excellence, which has made notable contributions in academic and cultural advancement, especially of Muslims in India. And that some amount of reservations, not necessarily 50 per cent, are required for achieving this objective. Institutes like CMC Vellore and St Stephen?s College in Delhi, which also reserve seats for certain religions, churn out the best professionals in their fields. Certainly, politics shouldn?t be allowed to come into educational matters.

Yours faithfully,
Tabishul Haque, Kurseong

Sir ? The Allahabad high court?s description of the Aligarh Muslim University Amendment Act, 1981, designating AMU a minority institution, as unconstitutional, and its dismissal of the Centre?s order mandating a 50 per cent quota for Muslims at the university as illegal are surprising indeed. Article 30 of the Constitution empowers minorities to establish and administer their own universities. Since its inception, AMU has been making signal contributions towards improving the educational standards of Indian Muslims and bringing them into the national mainstream. A decision like this will not help this beleaguered community.

Yours faithfully,
Samiullah Khan, Calcutta

Sir ? While the Congress doesn?t quite know how to react to the Allahabad high court order on AMU and the left parties try to duck the issue, the BJP seems triumphant. It has welcomed the verdict as a ?vindication? of its stand and geared up to attack the ?pseudo secularists? policy? of Muslim appeasement. But then for the Congress, the AMU has always been an arena to play politics in.

Yours faithfully,
Megha A., Hyderabad

Sir ? The Allahabad high court verdict must be welcomed by all those who are genuinely secular-minded. As for the demand of students and lecturers that a new law be enacted to restore minority status to the AMU, parliament cannot enact a law which is illegal. Also, the government is meant for the welfare of all the people, irrespective of caste and religion.

Yours faithfully,
G.B. Srikantiah, Bangalore

Sir ? It?s unfortunate that after so many years of independence, we continue to have reservations. This shows that the reservation policy has been a failure. If the government cares so much for the economically weaker sections, then why can?t it find a more reliable method to help them? Why seek the easiest way out?

Yours faithfully,
Shubhajit Chakraborty, Calcutta

Sir ?Sir Syed Ahmed Khan established the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in 1875, which became the Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Sir Syed never meant AMU to be for Muslims only. Hopefully, the Allahabad high court verdict will be the last word on the subject, since the Supreme Court had, way back in 1968, ruled that ?a university set up through a central legislation could not be granted minority status?.

Yours faithfully,
Jang Bahadur Singh, Jamshedpur

Sir ? There should not be any reservation for minorities, either in educational institutions or anywhere else. Quotas are a politician?s tool, and helps nobody but him. As the Supreme Court recently said, reservations at the cost of efficiency are not desirable and should not be permitted. In fact, reservations make the nation weak as inefficient people get into jobs or institutions and this causes a deterioration in services and quality.

Yours faithfully,
Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi

Sir ? The main reason the reserved categories continue to languish is their comparatively higher rate of population-growth. Thus reservations cannot be the solution without some attempts also being made to inculcate family-planning norms within these communities.

Yours faithfully,
Subhash C. Agrawal, Dariba Delhi