Got threats over granting minority status to Jauhar Univarsity: Aziz Qureshi

RAMPUR: Uttarakhand Governor Aziz Qureshi has claimed that he had received threats to dissuade him from granting minority status to the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, when he held the additional charge as UP Governor.

"When I was in-charge of UP as constitutional head and the documents related to granting of minority status to Jauhar University were placed before me, I received threats to dissuade me from signing on the documents" he said yesterday in his address at the varsity on occasion of Ali Jauhar's birth anniversary.

"I remained unfazed and did not bother of the consequences. I signed the document and accorded minority recognition to Jauhar University," he added.

Without naming anyone, Qureshi said that those who protest against the university will face the consequences.

Talking about Ali Jauhar, he said, "the great warrior of Independence struggle and the president of AICC, when Jawaharlal Nehru was its secretary, has been forgotten even by historians. This is misfortune of history and the country."

Speaking on the occasion, Azam Khan, the chancellor of the university said, "We approached three governors in the past but our pleas went in vain. They had been calling the university as a conspiracy and not an institution."

Mohammad Ali Jauhar University (Amendment) Bill, which had been pending for seven years, was finally cleared by Qureshi granting minority status to the varsity in July this year.

The varsity is the dream project of senior Samajwadi Party minister Azam Khan, who often criticised Raj Bhawan for delaying clearance of the bill which was passed in the Legislative Assembly as well as Legislative Council in 2007.