Oppn unites against move to strip AMU, Jamia of minority status

Eight Opposition parties, including Congress, Trinamool Congress  (TMC) and Left, on Friday joined hands to corner the government over its alleged "sinister" move to "strip" the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Jamila Millia Islamia (JMI) of their minority status and slammed Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi on the issue.

MPs from the eight parties also declared that they will launch a signature campaign, approach President Pranab Mukherjee on the issue and will also raise the matter in Parliament in the upcoming Budget session. 

In a joint statement, MPs from Congress, TMC, Janta Dal-United (JD-U), Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), CPI, CPI(M) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said that they "strongly condemn" and express their displeasure and deep concern against the "nasty" move of the Central government to "strip" AMU and JMI of their minority status.

The MPs also condemned the statement of Rohtagi over his view that the two institutions are not minority institutions.

"We condemn the statement of the Attorney General of India, who has blatantly tried to outrage the rich tradition of Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb by mentioning before the Supreme Court that these two institutions are not minority institutions," the MPs said. The Attorney General has told the government that Delhi-based Jamia Milia Islamia is not a minority institution as it was created by an Act of Parliament, days after he told the Supreme Court that the legislature never intended the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to be a minority institution.

In his opinion to the HRD Ministry, Rohatgi is understood to have also quoted a 1967 Supreme Court judgement which had said that AMU is technically not a minority institution and the same principle applied to Jamia Milia Islamia.

The HRD Ministry had approached the Law Ministry seeking an opinion on the issue. The Law Ministry had then asked the AG for his legal opinion.

Rohatgi had told the Apex Court over a week ago that in the opinion of the government, AMU is not a minority institution. He said as the executive government at the Centre, it can't be seen as setting up a minority institution in a secular state.