Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: February 22, 2004
A day after scrapping the controversial
government order on closing schools on Fridays to facilitate Muslims to
offer prayers, the UP government today constituted an integral university,
which would reserve upto 50 per cent seats for students belonging to the
minority community. The bill was passed by the Vidhan Sabha by voice vote
despite opposition from BJP members.
The university would be set up after
dissolving a voluntary organisation, Islamic Council for Productive Education
Society, which runs schools, colleges, including a technical institute
in Lucknow.
Demanding that the bill be sent
to the select committee of the house, BJP member Hukum Singh said setting
up a university with preference to minority community was against the spirit
of the Constitution.
Replying to the charges, CM Mulayam
Singh Yadav said there is no attempt to break the society on the religious
lines. "We bridge the chasm between two communities so that people can
live in peace and brotherhood," he said.
