HVK Archives: Jamia in a mess
Jamia in a mess - The Hindustan Times
Firoz Bakht Ahmed
()
6 July 1997
Title: Jamia in a mess
Author: Firoz Bakht Ahmed
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: July 6, 1997
Q. Why have you tendered your resignation despite being ahead in the race
for the, Vice-Chancellorship of Jamia?
A: Sorry, I was not in the running for any office. Besides, following the
appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor rather clandestinely, my moral
authority to continue in the scat was undermined. I thought it was not
appropriate to continue in office. Twice, search committees were formed
for the purpose. But the fact is that the people who decide the destiny of
Muslim institutions, are the ones who actually have neither academic
interest in the process of education nor a sense of dedication.
Q: Were you disappointed that after officiating for nine months, you were
not considered for the post?
A: It is a great moral victory for me and all my supporters all over the
globe. We knew that the same repugnant elements who had framed me in a
controversy five years ago after my innocuous statement over Satanic
Verses, ("Sunday", Calcutta: April 5, 1992) were at the task again to see
that I was down and out. I feel that I have been excluded, on the basis of,
so I gather, completely misleading, malicious and pernicious suggestions
and a malignant propaganda by people who have not helped Jamia with five
rupee even! What is most painful and agonising is not that I am not
selected but the fact that the reins of Jamia are in the hands of people
who are eating into the entrails of the institution.
Q: You have a long association with Jamia. What kind of institution is it?
Is It different from AMU?
A: Jamia is a unique university with unique problems. The problems with
Jamia is that most of the students here are the ones who are either from a
rural background or from backward urban Muslim areas thrown for the first
time into this cosmopolitan city, in a modern and coeducational campus.
There is no orientation course or any attempt to introduce them into this
new environment. Therefore, academically they are easy prey to the
manipulating and calculating politicians. Unfortunately they are the ones
who are pressed into service by the land mafia and self-seeking small-time
politicians of the area. The university is stuck in apolitical impasse and
'gunda raj' rather than paying heed to studies. Hostels have no civic
amenities. There are not enough classrooms. The mess too is messy.
Everything is inadequate and there's a great paucity of well-equipped
laboratories and sports facilities. This is not the character of a central
university. What is very. sad is that the Jamia community has not created
the channels through which these 'real' routine and mundane problems can be
redressed or conveyed to the authorities concerned. Factionalism, petty
squabbles and petty power struggle is the order of the day in the university.
Q: Do you think that the minority character of Janiia has been violated by
the High Court judgment of May 1, 1997?
A: I would not like to criticise the High court judgment but I do believe
that Jamia has not really achieved the aim that was desired by making it a
central university in 1988. Jamia has been a minority-based institution
with a nationalistic and secular character. The 'Original Sin' was
committed when the Jamia Act was passed in 1988. Without ado it got
through Parliament. It was an exercise that paid no regard to the
sensitivities of those connected with the university. Eight years elapse,
the problem has ripened and come to the fore. It has a distinct minority
character and it has been recognised as such by the Government of India not
in explicit terms but implicitly like Aligarh which is also a minority
institution. I support Jamia reservations for they are largely of secular
nature benefiting Muslims as well as others. Problems of Muslims are of
varied nature from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and may be in a state like Kerala
or Tamil Nadu no reservations are needed but certainly not so in the North.
Q: But even you supported it becoming a central university In 1988. Why do
you term it as 'Original Sin' today?
A: Yes, I supported this move for I thought that Jamia, at long last, has
received the recognition that it deserved. A central university means
greater flow of funds and greater independence on devising academic
programmes. You need not run to the UGC for everything is decided easily
within your own bodies. it was an ant move but in retrospect I still
emphasise that the sensitivity that had to be taken into account about the
kind of university Jamia had been was not catered to and my demand even at
that time was that the names of the founders of Jamia University had to be
taken into account which has not been the case.
Do you think that the Salman Rushdie albatross still hangs around your
neck, I mean even now that controversy haunts you?
A: No, absolutely not! It was orchestrated by vested interest. Can you
imagine me walking in the campus without any police or security guards?
Well, during the last six months, I have been welcomed by all, be it the
students, teachers or the karamcharis. The overwhelming support that I have
received from all quarters, is a big boost. It shows that my slate is
clean, I only mentioned that Rushdie's literature was a cheap,
professionally an incompetent and religiously a derogatory book and that
the more we ban it the more it would gain notoriety and publicity. And
that's what's happened. An individual, irrespective of the quality of his
work has the right to freedom of expression that no liberal society can
suppress and we are a liberal society.
Q: Rather than being stuck up in the quagmire of this controversy, you can
leave Jamia and head any other university like proposed Maulana Abul Kalam
Azad National Urdu University at Hyderabad. What about that?
A: I am basically a practising historian. I am a researcher. In 1992 I
thought that I may be able to contribute to the institution a bit more in
the administrative capacity so that the university could progress a little
more. But that was not to be. I have nursed Jamia as my child and I have no
intention to join any other university be it the coming Urdu University or
any other institution. Why should I leave at a time when everyone wants me
here? Considering the hostility I have faced over the last five years, the
change today is quite rejuvenating and refreshing. It's spectacular and has
a very soothing effect and would help me to get along with my research work
without any worries. In spite of the fact that I am living on borrowed
time, I love working for Jamia.
Back
Top
|
