The recent statement of Union Human Resource & Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal in leading newspapers of the country about the proposed centre of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Kishanganj district of Bihar has disappointed thousands of education lovers and dreamers of Seemanchal region of the state. A couple of days the HRD Minister in an interaction with editors of Urdu newspapers in New Delhi said that the Vice Chancellor of AMU Lt. Gen (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah doesn’t wish to open the centre of the university in Bihar’s Kishanganj district which comes under Seemanchal region. In the same meeting Sibal told that he is always ready to establish the special centre of Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj.
Former AMU VC Azis (left) & current VC Shah
As per Sibal’s claim the VC had shown his unwillingness to establish the centre in Kishanganj sighting the reason of possibilities of internal clash among the university officials and staffs. The report carrying Sibal’s statement about AMU Vice Chancellor was published in many Urdu newspapers of Delhi. In fact, the report brought a shock-wave for AMU Kishanganj dreamers and people of Seemanchal region including activist groups like Human Chain working for making the dream of AMU Kishanganj a reality.
The next day Inquilab, an Urdu daily in its Delhi edition carried the pieces of telephonic interview with AMU Vice Chancellor Shah. The report says that opening the centre of Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj is not a priority for him. “My first priority is focusing on the development of Aligarh Muslim University main campus in Aligarh, after that Mallapuram (Kerala) and Murshidabad (West Bengal). If I will get time and resources the focus will be given to other centres including Kishanganj”, says the report quoting AMU VC. The same report mentions that the university officials and staffs have difference of opinions regarding establishing the centres outside Aligarh. Some have favoured the proposal, while some have totally denied to open any centre outside Aligarh sighting the management issues and tradition of AMU as the reasons.
The report published in Inquilab has made the view of Zameer Uddin Shah public, although he was trying to speak between the lines on the issue of opening AMU centres outside Aligarh. Only after the Union HRD Minister sighted him as the main protagonist to stop the establishment of AMU centre in Kishanganj, the VC had given such statement clarifying his stand. Earlier in a couple of felicitation programmes organized in New Delhi the Vice Chancellor had clearly told that he is not against the centres as they taking ahead the vision of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan. He himself had clarified the doubts of opposition camp by saying that opening of centres outside was the decision of government and President of India (as Visitor of the university), hence he can’t put a hold on the proposal launched by former Vice Chancellor Prof P K Abdul Azis. The new statement is just contradictory and raises many questions in minds of AMU Kishanganj lovers.
AMU Kishanganj dreamers have lost hope after the statement of Shah and remembering former Vice Chancellor Prof P K Abdul who was taking care of this proposal with utmost care and pretended as ‘God Father’ of the centres. Be it Mallapuram in Kerala, Murshidabad in West Bengal or Kishanganj in Bihar, Prof Azis felt the requirement of a contemporary centre (campus) of legendary AMU in these places. After getting green signal from Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh in UPA 1 and approval from President of India the former VC of AMU established the centres at Mallapuram and Murshidabad in no time and the sessions started by the year 2010. He was equally enthusiastic about establishing AMU Centre in Kishanganj but the delay made by Bihar government in allocating required 250 acres of contiguous land caused him to push the signing of agreement till December 2011.
However, before leaving the university as Vice Chancellor he had signed an agreement with Bihar Government on December 30, 2011 just 17 days before his retirement day. The signing of agreement between AMU administration and Bihar Government made the common people jubilant. Hopes came alive for the lakhs of Seemanchal people to see the mega campus of AMU in the district of Kishanganj soon. All were assuming that the centre at Kishanganj will be a reality soon as the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi during her visit to the district headquarters in November 2010 said that the delay is made by the state government. Once the land will be provided by the state government the UPA government at centre will start the construction work, claimed Ms Gandhi during Bihar Assembly elections poll campaign. But it didn’t happen as simple as it was appearing the issue of AMU Centre Kishanganj hardly got attention from Ministry of HRD. Only after the pressure from activist groups the Ministry of HRD forwarded the file in the month of April to President’s Secretariat. The file of AMU put on hold by President’s Secretariat based on the feedback from Law & Justice ministry as a writ-petition was pending at the Supreme Court.
Prof. P K Abdul Azis viewed the opening of AMU Centres as a historical initiative that would prove to be a milestone in the educational development of the nation. He described AMU Centres as unique example of tripartite partnership between central government, state government and the AMU in the service of minority community and the nation at large. He had once said that by expanding the capacity building for the inclusive growth of an excluded community and that of the backward regions, the AMU has opened up new vistas of opportunities for generations' sustainable development through modern education. With the establishment of two AMU Centre at Murshidabad in West Bengal and Malappuram in Kerala with two more in pipeline at Kishanganj in Bihar and Khuldabad in Maharashtra, in a way, the AMU has re-launched 'Aligarh Movement' and fulfilled the vision and mission of its founder, said the former VC before leaving the university.
The statement of Zameer Uddin Shah in Inquilab is totally surprising and it seems he had taken a ‘U’ turn from his earlier stand. Whatever is the reason behind this change in stand towards AMU Kishanganj Centre, but the AMU Kishanganj lovers feel that the proposed centre has lost a ‘God Father’ like former Vice Chancellor Prof P K Abdul Azis. Without a ‘God Father’ like Prof Azis there are minimum chances of seeing the special centre of Aligarh Muslim University in reality at Kishanganj. Without cooperation or pro-active steps of Vice Chancellor no one can establish a centre outside Aligarh even if the government or President of India gives a green signal at the Centre.
