We Hindus are told day in and day out that India is a ?secular? state where religion should be a private matter and every citizen, irrespective of his religion, is equal before law. But in practice such laws have been enacted which discriminate against Hindu youth.
On calculated mis-representations and soft-peddling by Attorney Generals appointed by Congress governments, the Supreme Court of India has ruled that equal treatment guarantee of Articles 14 and 29(2) was not available to Hindu boys and girls in ?minority? institutions, and; that these institutions under Article 30(1) can reserve up to 50 per cent of seats for co-religionist candidates with the result Hindu students including SC, ST, OBC and leftist Hindus with better marks do not get admissions in such institutions but minority students with lower marks easily get admissions within their reserved 50 per cent quota. In the minority institutions, the OBC Hindus, the SC Hindus and the ST Hindus are denied their constitutionally guaranteed reservations of 27 per cent, 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. Hindu parents do not seem to be aware that as soon as the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), currently a central university, is declared a ?minority? institution by the Supreme Court on soft-peddling by Manmohan Singh government, Hindu students will lose right to claim these reservations in the AMU.
Secular Hindu parliamentarians refused in the present Parliament to pass a clarificatory law to say that above constitutional reservations for SC, ST and OBC Hindus shall be available to them in all minority institutions.
Attempts are being made to declare the Jamia Millia University, Delhi, a minority institution so that 50 per cent seats in this central university can also be reserved for Muslim students and thus reduce Hindu students as second-class citizens at another campus. A petition has been filed by some Muslim students before the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions to declare this central university a minority institution, and, wonder of wonder is that Hindus, howsoever leftist or secular, are debarred by an Act of Parliament piloted by the Manmohan Singh government in November 2004 from being appointed as a member of this Commission. Similarly Hindus have been debarred from being appointed as the Chairman of the National Minority Commission.
If one looks at composition of teaching faculty in the Jamia Millia University and the Aligarh Muslim University, both central universities, one will see that more than 90 per cent teaching staffs are Muslims. Based on population of Hindus in India at least 85 per cent of teaching staff in all institutions all over India including minority institutions should be Hindus. One-third officers of the Mughal army even under Aurangzeb were Hindus so by efforts of the Congress Party and its secular allies the fate of Hindus in the AMU is today worse than during the Aurangzeb'stime.
The Allahabad High Court has twice ruled that the Aligarh Muslim University is not a ?Muslim minority institution.? But Shri Arjun Singh, Dr Manmohan Singh and all ?secular? political parties supporting this UPA government are working hard to turn over this decision and want the Supreme Court to declare the AMU a ?Muslim minority institution? so that Hindu students with better marks and better CVs could be refused admissions and jobs in this central university too and, thus, be treated de facto and de jure as second-class citizens at one more campus.
The Congress Party right from the beginning has been telling lies in the courts and in the Parliament that the AMU has ?minority? character as it was set up by Muslims for educational advancement of Muslims so legitimately it should be a Muslim minority institution under Article 30(1). This claim of ?exclusively? by Muslims, ?exclusively? for Muslims is totally false.
The factual position is that Hindus too had made rich contributions to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for setting up the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College and this fact Congress and Communist Hindu leaders, secular Hindu journalists and the university authorities hide from Hindu public, hide from courts and hide from the Parliament. The MAO College set up in 1877 was later converted into the AMU by an Act (1920) of the Legislature. Historical records show that amongst the first 120 people who gave valuable donations for construction of the MAO building to Syed Ahmed Khan were several Hindus like Choudhary Sher Singh, Lekhraj Singh, Raja Shiv Narain Singh, Raja Ghanshyam Singh, Raja Udai Pratap, Lala Phul Chand, Lala Vasudeo Sahai and others. This composite nature of contributions collected by Khan is suppressed by secular & gulamiat pasanda (GP) Hindus as they want to reduce Hindu boys and girls to second-class status in this university too. The Supreme Court and Hindu students should not lose sight of this composite (ganga-jamuni) nature of contributions raised by Sir Syed Khan. [Special Leave Petition (SC6783/2006)]
In the People'sDemocracy of June 5, 2005, a weekly publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Professor Irfan Habib, a former Professor of History at the AMU, has written: ?In a speech in 1883 at Lahore, Aligarh'sfounder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan said proudly of the MAO College, later to become the Aligarh Muslim University: ?There is no discrimination between Hindus and Muslims.?
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan has been quoted in the Frontline magazine, June 04-17, 2005 by another writer Anne Zaidi. ?I shall feel sorry if anybody thinks that (Aligarh Muslim University) has been established so as to show discrimination between Hindus and Muslims… All rights of the college appertaining to those who call themselves Muslims are equally related to those who call themselves Hindus without any reservations…?
But in pursuance of their anti-Hindu policies, the Congress Party, other secular parties and employees of the AMU have ganged up to harm, hurt and humiliate Hindu youth in the AMU campus by attempting to get the AMU declared a Muslim minority institution. And, wonder of the wonder is that Hindu parents residing in the western UP do not seem to be aware of this ?secular? game to harm careers of their children, that too with help of their notes and votes.
As per its manifesto, the Congress government on 10th March 2006 got the National Commission for Minority Educational (Amendment) Bill passed according to which the provincial governments will have to give no objection certificate within 90 days of application for setting up an institution by religious minorities, or, else the government will have to specify reasons for refusal. The aggrieved party will have right to approach the Commission which, in turn, will take a final decision in consultation with the state. Composition of even this Commission is not representative and Hindus have been debarred from membership of this Commission. However, if no reasons are given by a state government for not giving the NOC within 90 days, it would be deemed as the approval of the state. The Act also provides for the right of minority institutions to seek affiliation to any university of their choice listed in this Act. The bill was supported by all UPA partners including the Left parties, Samajwadi Party of Shri Mulayam Singh and the Bahujan Samaj Party. It was criticised by the Bharatiya Janata Party. So, a Muslim institution in a far-off place, say, in Bihar can demand affiliation to any named central university of its choice and its students will get degrees of that central university and, thus, will enjoy better marketability in the employment market whereas a Hindu student of the same region will have degree of a provincial university having less marketability in the employment market. Thus, with votes of Hindu parents, the UPA government has placed Muslim and Christian students at higher and better pedestal in the employment market than Hindu students.
The saddest part is that these battles Hindu students are losing by votes of their own parents. Hindu students and their parents should no more remain passive and join the electoral battles to win the war.
[The writer recently retired in the rank of Secretary to the Govt. of India in the Indian Foreign Service (1971 batch).]
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