RSS may make Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status an issue in poll bound Uttar Pradesh

NEW DELHI: The controversy around Aligarh Muslim University’s minority status will figure prominently in the Sangh Parivar’s UP campaign, leaders of the RSS and the state unit of the BJP decided at a meeting here on Saturday, as they expect it to strengthen their reach among the OBCs and SCs. The Centre, said sources, is making attempts to formally declare that the university does not qualify to be a minority institution, a decision that will likely affect the political equations in UP.

As a poll issue, the move will target the ruling SP, Congress and the BSP, for what the Sangh alleges is their Muslim appeasement at the cost of the rights of Dalits and other backward communities. RSS joint secretary Krishna Gopal and several BJP MLAs and MPs from UP took part in the one-day meeting to discuss how the party and the Sangh would take the issue of AMU minority status forward.

All participants were given a copy of the book, ‘National Reservation Policy and Aligarh Muslim University’, which in 16 chapters says the university has been evading the reservation policy of the state and depriving SCs and OBCs of their rights to admission. “The Sangh will also build momentum around this issue by door-todoor sessions and push for faster court verdicts,” a person who attended the meeting said.

The meeting was organised by BJP leader Balbir Punj in New Delhi. Punj told ET the purpose of the event was to spread awareness among people on the misdoings of the university. “Aligarh Muslim University is not a minority institution; RSS on Saturday said that the varsity is committing a ‘big crime’ by not implementing the policy of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs,” he said.

UP BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan said the attempt of the event was to mobilise support for the party’s steps on the issue. “It is not the question of Hindus alone. Our SCs and OBCs have been cheated for years . The Congress has been using AMU for furthering its vote bank politics that needs to stop now.”

The most important session of the event was one on legal cases pursued against the university. AMU, at present, doesn’t have a religion or caste-based policy, but it does have preferences and reservations for local candidates, irrespective of faith, university officials said.